At the clang of the Midnight bell on Saturday, March 4^th, the contract between AT&T West and the District 9 chapter of the Communications Workers Of America expired.

Today the organizations are working without a contract and the union has staged a work slowdown. I don’t know much about the machinations of unions but I think I know how to interpret this excerpt from one of their latest news releases:

“We encourage all members to work safely and with the highest possible standards of quality. We want you to comply with all rules and procedures the Company has ever taught you – if they conflict, stop and notify a manager of the conflict so that it may be resolved. Ensure all tools, equipment, furniture, and materials are ergonomically proper, safe, and in proper condition before use. Additionally, ensure all plant and equipment complies with every safety, quality, and regulatory rule. Make certain that vehicles are properly maintained, inspected and safe.

Meanwhile, our bargaining committee will continue to bargain and our members will stay on the job – but it will not be business as usual!”

The negotiations continue but without much headway. What to do? Well, why not head out to the ballpark on opening day and enjoy two of America’s old pastimes, baseball and union rallies?

A good time was had by all. I wonder if the union paid to have members comp’ed to the game? And did they treat them to $10 beers and helpings of $8 garlic fries? It’s all part of a hard day’s work at the union.

Frankly, the whole spectacle disgusts me. The way AT&T runs their duopoly (Verizon being the only other player) makes the federal government look like the model of efficiency. And the CWA has been able to jack up their member’s pay and benefits to obsene levels. I was recently talking to an AT&T technician, probably around 40 years old. He was making $108,000 a year and was complaining that AT&T was attempting to take that salary down to a paltry $100K. This for technical work that could be learned in six months of training! Much of America’s competitiveness issues are reflected in this sorry story.

What do you think?

Randy Kremlacek

Randy is the President of Teledynamic Communications. The company specializes in premise-based and hosted SIP PBX’s, pbx monitoring and Unified Communications.