IBEW – AT&T Reach Tentative Agreement

Tuesday, March 26, 2013 - 12:01pm (CST)- The IBEW System Council T-3 (SCT-3) and AT&T reached a tentative agreement on a new four-year contract covering over 6,500 employees working for the company nationwide. The parties entered into early bargaining to negotiate a new contract to replace their current contract that is set to expire on June 22, 2013.

The new tentative agreement must be voted on and accepted by the IBEW membership. The IBEW SCT-3 will present the contract to its members over the next few weeks, through a series of meetings and other communications. Complete ratification information will be provided as soon as possible.

Many battles have been fought since the last IBEW/AT&T agreement was reached in 2009.   Since that time the telecommunications industry has undergone dramatic changes. Those changes and the agreements reached by other unions affected negotiations with AT&T. In light of these circumstances, this new contract protects the principles we have fought to achieve in the telecommunications industry. 

When surveyed, the IBEW membership’s primary concern was job security. Your leadership feels this new contract goes a long way to achieve that objective. Our members were concerned about protecting their wages, benefits, jobs in emerging technologies, and retiree health care. The officers and delegates of the IBEW SCT-3 feel the tentative agreement fulfills many of those goals. 

Agreement Highlights

• Four year agreement 6/23/13 – 6/24/17
• Successorship Language
• Basic Weekly Wage Rate increases per year 2.25%, 2.50%, 2.75%, 3.00%
• $1,000 signing bonus if ratified by May 7, 2013.
• Monthly medical contribution for employees on the payroll prior to the expiration of the current contract: 

           2014 - $45 individual, $95 family, 2015 - $70 individual, $150 family

           2016 - $90 individual, $195 family, 2017 - $105 individual, $225 family

• Retiree Medical Benefits will continue.
• New Dental and Vision Plans contain low monthly contributions; they also provide higher levels of coverage.
• Success Sharing Plans will revert to cash payments instead of HRA deposits.
• Pension bands increase by 1% per year starting in 2014.
• Changes to sick time and attendance policy.
• Article 30 Surplus Language changes made to address membership concerns and shortfalls contained in the previous version of the article.
• Ability for Customer System Technicians to transfer into Premise Technician positions with no economic diminishments if surplused.
• Improvements made in Premise Technician, Sales Consultant, Engineering Assistant, and Global Services/Data Comm contract language.
• Premise Technicians $0.55 hourly raise in addition to first year percent increase.

Your Council Officers and the rest of the bargaining team worked diligently to bring this contract to you for your review, and ultimately your approval. According to IBEW System Council T-3 Chairman Paul Wright, “We feel this agreement gives our members the job security they were seeking. It protects middle class jobs by providing competitive wages and benefits. This agreement reaffirms our commitment to protect the interests of our membership while building stronger relationships with our employers.”

We encourage all members to read the details of the new agreement, more of which will be released later today, and to attend the contract overview meetings that are being scheduled. The contract will be thoroughly explained. After reviewing the new agreement we feel our membership will see the agreement is acceptable and puts us on a path to secure our futures with the company.

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Solidarity!