The Bargaining Committee met again with the Company on Friday with demands that they provide outstanding data still owed to us. It is still apparent that we are the only ones who came to this table to look for possible solutions to what the Company says, but can't show, are problems with the current health care plan. Instead, the Company wants us to simply put forward another proposal with "shot in the dark" ingredients of retrogression! But we are not interested in giving into the astronomically impacting demand the Company proposed on June 4!
The Company's suggestion that, for a family, an employee who earns the average salary within Mobility today should have to pay out more than 17 percent of their annual income before the plan kicks in is insane, let alone unreasonable and immoral! We feel that the Company has wasted enough time avoiding the questions and they need to get serious if we have any chance at reaching a tentative agreement! They need to DO THE RIGHT THING!
The Bargaining Committee appreciates all of the support you have shown!!
Bargaining has been recessed and will reconvene on June 27.The CWA Bargaining Committee met with the Company yesterday in another intense session of negotiations. In spite of several hours of questioning the Company on some of the data they have provided us, we are still not hearing anything that substantiates their claim that the Union's proposal puts an insurmountable financial burden on them.
The Union still has many more questions that need to be answered by the Company. Bargaining will resume again today.
The Committee appreciates your continued support.We had many questions for the Company about items in their data and the Company agreed to provide answers as soon as they get them researched. We also have challenged the Company to substantiate their claims that our proposal represents a 60 percent increase to their initial costs. We feel that we have offered a comprehensive and fair health care proposal that is affordable for the Company and that our members deserve. Despite what the Company message to employees may have stated, at this point, it doesn't appear to us they are serious about trying to reach an agreement by June 30th.
We
have recessed negotiations pending the
Company's call with answers to our many
questions.
On
Tuesday, your committee passed
a
proposal
that we believe is fair, equitable and affordable for our
membership.
The company's response yesterday was
that our proposal would be a 60 percent increase in cost to
them. And, instead of backing up their claim with
supporting facts and data, they chose to simply pass a proposal
that will increase our premiums by up to 540 percent! In
addition to that, the Company proposal includes increases in
out-of-pocket expenses which could be as much as 1/3 of the
annual base wage for the average employees salary!
The proposal passed by the company is an insult
and shows a total lack of respect for CWA and our
membership! It is clear that the new AT&T has no
appreciation for the employees who made them the number one
wireless company.
Needless to say, we have a long
tough battle before us!!
The Bargaining Committee
thanks everyone for their continued support!
Negotiations opened yesterday in Atlanta, Georgia, with our Bargaining Committee submitting a comprehensive health care proposal to the Company.
District 3 Vice President Noah Savant, speaking on behalf of CWA nationwide, told the Company in opening remarks the Union is hopeful Mobility has come to these negotiations with the intent to reach an agreement that reflects our members' contributions toward making Mobility the number one wireless company in the United States.
At the same time that negotiations began, thousands of CWA members who work at AT&T across the country mobilized to show their support through rallies, informational pickets and by delivering flyers with a message to AT&T management reminding them that when our Bargaining Committee is sitting at this table, they are not sitting alone.
The Company is currently reviewing our proposal and preparing additional relevant data that we have requested.
Bargaining
updates will continue to be sent out
as there are further developments.
opeiu
#5, afl-cio/wl 06.05.08
Rev. 06.12.2008/lll
Rev. 06.16.2008/lll