After 18 months, AT&T union gets a contract

AT&T and the union representing 4,000 of its workers across Connecticut have reached agreement on a new multi-year contract after long, and often contentious, bargaining that stretched over the past 18 months.

Both sides welcomed the agreement, saying it provides wage increases for workers as well as employment protections.

William Henderson, president of Local 1298 of the Communications Workers of America, said the new contract covers AT&T wireline workers as well as Yellow Pages staffers.

The union local, based in Hamden, is the last of AT&T's unions nationwide to reach agreement on a new contract.

The new contract still needs to be ratified by rank-and-file members, said Henderson, but he applauded the new contract's wage provisions, health-care benefits and protections for retirees.

Ballots will be mailed to union members on Monday, and contract ratification meetings will be held later next week at the Aqua-Turf Club in Plantsville.

The three year contract includes a 3 percent raise for each of the first two years and a 2.75 percent raise in the third year of the pact, said Henderson.

"We secured good jobs ... made gains for our retirees, and have contract language we can build on in the future," said Henderson.

Marty Richter, a spokesman for AT&T, said this latest contract agreement is the seventh - and final - with bargaining units representing the company's approximately 120,000 core wireline employees in the United States. He said the new contract is consistent with agreements ratified by six of AT&T's seven core wireline bargaining units, representing about 97 percent of AT&T's core wireline employees

"Even in tough economic times and in the midst of major changes in the marketplace and our industry, the three-year agreement continues to offer wages and benefits that are among the best in the country," he said.

The new contract offers employment security commitments, including a "guaranteed job offer" provision that promises eligible surplused employees opportunities with AT&T in selected subsidiaries within Connecticut, said Richter.

Henderson said guaranteeing jobs in Connecticut was an important bargaining point with his union.

"It was a really tough battle, but our members are the best and stood strong," said Henderson. "We fought and won."