Will AT&T Do A Komen And Ruin Its Brand By Hurting Workers?
Democracy takes work, and organization, and awareness, and information, and requires people to be eternally vigilant. Sounds corny, but look what happens when the public gets apathetic or we let ourselves be persuaded that “job creators” deserve special favors, etc… Look what happened to our country and economy since the Bush v Gore Supreme Court ruling that gave us tax cuts for the rich, deregulation and war. Look what has happened since the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling that lets big corporations and billionaires spend unlimited amounts to influence our elections.
AT&T Strike Coming?
Right now the Communication Workers of America (CWA) and AT&T (AT&T) are negotiating contracts affecting a total of 40,000 workers. On March 31, union members voted to authorize CWA to call strikes if agreements on new contracts weren’t be reached. CWA workers are engaged in a “mobilization” preparing for the possibility of a strike to support their negotiators in “the fight to hold on to the American Dream.” A strike is a big deal and a major sacrifice by the workers involved.
AT&T had more than $31 billion in profits in the last 2 years! Now, in negotiations with their workers they are trying to squeeze even higher profits, asking for givebacks in health care and other areas. CWA is asking them to “take the high road” in negotiations, and not work to help kill off the middle class:
As we approach the end of several AT&T contracts, CWA members have a choice: help make sure AT&T stays on the high road, providing good, middle-class jobs — the path to the American Dream — or risk that they join competitors on the low road with layoffs, cost shifts and outsourcing.
AT&T thinks it can just hit the union, squeeze the workers, get some more bucks for those at the top. But we’re in a different environment now, and plenty of people are coming to understand that things like this are not just between a company and its own workers – people are starting to see the connections between a company doing this to their workers and their own job situation! They are starting to understand the way things get harder and the pay and benefits get more scarce for others means the same will happen to them.
Mobilization
CWA’s newsletter: Mobilization In High Gear At AT&T,
As AT&T contract negotiations go into overtime, so has mobilization by CWA members.
CWA members have a lot of creative mobilization actions underway to support their bargaining teams and to stand up for the American Dream of good jobs and good benefits.
More Than Just AT&T’s Workers
Even if you do not work at AT&T this is about you, too. If AT&T can beat down their own workers, other companies will have it easier beating down their workers. If workers can be beaten down like this, then minimum wage cuts and cuts in Social Security and Medicare and the rest of what We, the People do for each other can’t be far behind.
BUT we can fight back. What happened to the omen Foundation shows that we can have an effect. The companies leaving ALEC behind now show that we can have an effect. Support CWA’s workers. Support the organizations fighting ALEC. Let companies like AT&T know that you are aware of their game now, you are ready to stand up for other people in this fight to keep the middle class, and the paths to the middle class for poor people, and the democracy that enabled that middle class.
Actions
ColorOfChange.org: ColorOfChange.org calls on AT&T to stop funding the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC),
ColorOfChange.org members began making phone calls to AT&T headquarters to demand that the company stop funding the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) because of the group’s role in the spread of discriminatory voter ID laws, and “stand your ground” laws like the one that has prevented justice for Trayvon Martin in Florida. News broke last week that Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Kraft Foods, and Intuit have ended their relationship with ALEC. Today ColorOfChange.org called on AT&T to follow suit.
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