Local AT&T workers walk off job, protest lack of contract
Dozens of red-shirted AT&T workers walked off their jobs Friday afternoon and lined up along Evansville streets to protest their lack of a new contract.
Chanting "hey-hey, ho-ho, corporate greed has got to go" and "50-50 no way, keep our jobs in the USA," the members of Communications Workers of America Local 4900 said their last contract with AT&T expired in February.
On Saturday, an AT&T spokesman released this statement: "A strike is in no one’s best interest, and it’s baffling that union leadership would call one when we’re offering terms in which our employees in these contracts – some of whom average from $115,000 to $148,000 in total compensation – will be better off financially," Tammy Rader wrote.
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The walkout occurred at 2 p.m., and the parking lot at the AT&T call center on Vogel Road was barricaded. Employees protested there, and others were seen in front of the AT&T store on Burkhardt Road.
"Essentially the company is not bringing anything to table for us to agree to," said Rachel Sturgeon, a union steward with CWA Local 4900. "What they are wanting to do is increase our health care by more than double, take away our sick days. They are not wanting to negotiate on any wage increases to help offset the health care costs. And they are not willing to talk about job security and keeping our jobs here, instead of outsourcing them."
Sturgeon said the company has not had layoffs yet, "but they have told us they are wanting to outsource at least 50 percent of our jobs. They are outsourcing them to centers that aren't trained to handle the call types, and it ends up with more customer frustration."
Sturgeon will reach 10 years of employment with AT&T later this year.
"It's a great job. I'm very appreciative of it, but I am a single mom, and when they are wanting to not increase our pay and double our health care costs, it really gets tight and it gets hard on people," Sturgeon said. "Plus coming to work and not knowing if you have a job, because they are wanting to outsource them."
Local AT&T workers have not walked off the job before, Sturgeon said. "Hopefully this is the first one and the last one, but if not, we are prepared to strike again if necessary."