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Report on AT&T Reveals Thousands of Layoffs, Call Center Closures, and Rampant Outsourcing While AT&T refuses to release details about plans for its $20 billion in tax savings, a report by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) examines the telecom giant’s continued role in hollowing out the middle class by eliminating thousands of jobs, closing call centers, and shifting customer service and network maintenance to low-wage contractors, including overseas vendors. While AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson once boasted that every $1 billion in tax savings will create “about 7,000 good jobs for the middle class,” the company announced more than 1,500 layoffs just days after the tax bill became law. Read the full report here: AT&T 2018 Jobs Report Case studies in the report reveal the devastating impact of recent call center closures across the Midwest, including in Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Illinois. In addition to concerns about job security, AT&T workers report that the company’s practice of outsourcing customer service work to low-wage overseas contractors is hurting the quality of service and damaging AT&T’s brand. “AT&T got rewarded with tax breaks, but AT&T employees are getting hurt,” said Tomeka Cooley-Pettus, a 13-year employee at a call center in Dayton, OH, where AT&T recently announced layoffs. “Communities like Dayton are struggling because of company layoffs. Community stores are shutting down, and a lot of workers are forced to leave and find somewhere else they can make a living. Thanks to companies like AT&T, it’s a race to the bottom instead of a race to the top.” Key findings from the report include:
- In the past seven years, AT&T has eliminated more than 16,000 call center jobs, closed 44 call centers, and laid off thousands of workers.
- In the past three years, AT&T has laid off 2,300 workers in Midwest states including Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois.
- In Michigan and Ohio, AT&T has closed four call centers in the past two years alone.
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Workers Call on Labor Department to Investigate General Dynamics as Wage Theft is Uncovered at Five More Call Centers WASHINGTON, D.C. - Workers at five federal contract call centers operated by General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) filed new wage theft complaints with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division today. Since January, over 2,000 current and former GDIT call center workers have come forward to call on the Department of Labor (DOL) to investigate violations of prevailing wage law at the company. The new complaints – filed on behalf of current and former workers in Corbin Ky., London, Ky., Tampa, Fla., Phoenix, Ariz. and Waco, Texas – allege widespread misclassification and underpayment of workers by GDIT, the top federal contractor in the call center industry. GDIT call center agents help Americans navigate Medicare and other programs under contract with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The new group of workers came forward after the Communications Workers of America (CWA) filed wage theft complaints on behalf of workers in recent months at four other GDIT call centers: Hattiesburg, Miss., Bogalusa, La., Lawrence, Kan, and Alexandria, Va. “These complaints provide further evidence that thousands of workers at a majority of GDIT call centers across the nation are systemically underpaid,” said CWA President Chris Shelton. “That’s why we are calling on the Department of Labor to conduct an enterprise-wide investigation at GDIT.” “I’m tired of just surviving, of making tough decisions like which bills to pay and which bills to delay,” said Roy Wingfield, a call center agent at a General Dynamics CMS call center in London, Ky. “General Dynamics needs to stop underpaying us. I’d like not to live paycheck to paycheck.” “I’m proud of the work that I do – helping Americans gain access to healthcare under the Affordable Care Act and Medicare programs,” said Kelly Grove, who handles Medicare claims in the London, Ky. center. “I love talking to the people we serve, I always remember to treat them with special care because they are somebody’s grandmother or grandfather. But GDIT doesn’t offer me the same care. They’re not concerned about who I am or what type of service I’m providing.” "I hope we get the justice we deserve for the work we do. The wages need to be increased, we are always busy and we do a lot for so little. If the people we talked to on the phone knew they would be shocked that our pay is so pitiful. It's disgusting that we are so under-appreciated by GDIT." said Tatiana Baez who is a call center agent from the Tampa call center. "Before we started organizing and coming forward about these issues of wage theft, GDIT made it seem like we were replaceable. I am glad that we are standing together to make things better for my fellow agents who work so hard day in and day out." GDIT currently employs about 10,000 workers at 11 call centers under contract with CMS. These jobs are covered by the Service Contract Act (SCA), a federal law that sets prevailing wage standards for federally contracted service work. The complaints show an extensive pattern of misclassification of workers under the SCA to avoid paying workers the wages their job duties merit. GDIT and Vangent, a call center company acquired by General Dynamics in 2011 and merged into GDIT, have a history of wage theft. Since 2007 the companies have agreed to pay their workers $4.2 million in back wages based on Wage and Hour Division investigations. If DOL confirms this widespread wage theft is occurring, CWA estimates that tens of thousands of current and former GDIT employees stand to recover more than $100 million in back wages since 2013, which would make it the largest federal contract wage theft case in history. GDIT also has been the focus of unfair labor practice charges for illegal threats, surveillance and interrogation of workers seeking to exercise their freedom to join together and negotiate improvements in their wages and working conditions. — Apr 23
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Bargaining Update AT&T Midwest and AT&T Legacy T Contracts expired for 14,000 CWA members at AT&T Midwest and AT&T Legacy T on Saturday night. Workers remain on the job but are ready to strike if negotiations stall. "Our members remember the big promises that AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson made if the corporate tax cut bill passed, and now we're holding AT&T to those promises," said CWA District 4 Vice President Linda L. Hinton. "Our bargaining team is committed to negotiating a fair contract that keeps good family-supporting jobs with affordable health care and a secure retirement in our communities. AT&T should not underestimate CWA members. They are ready to do whatever it takes to get a fair contract with AT&T Midwest, including going on strike if we aren't able to make progress at the bargaining table." "The concessions that AT&T is demanding are insulting," Vice President of Telecommunications & Technologies Lisa Bolton said. "AT&T made nearly $30 billion in profits last year, and is reaping major benefits from the passage of the corporate tax cut bill. They can afford to keep good family-supporting jobs in our communities instead of laying off workers and sending their work to low-wage contractors. Our members have overwhelmingly authorized a strike if necessary, and that is still an option." Members of Local 4603 held a rally in Milwaukee, Wis., on Saturday night as the AT&T Midwest contract expired to show the company that members are ready to do what it takes for a fair contract. ### New Jersey State Workers (Executive Branch) CWA reached a tentative agreement with the Murphy Administration this week, securing a huge win for 35,000 state workers in the executive branch in New Jersey. The agreement comes after nearly 3 years of fierce – and often stalled – negotiations with the Christie Administration, during which the former NJ governor refused to pay workers' salary increments and blocked arbitration attempts. "We achieved our goals," said the bargaining team in a memo to members. "The contract improves on the pattern set by other settlements and sets a foundation for our next contract." The new contract addresses all retroactive increments and clothing allowance payments, provides two across-the-board increases of 2%, and came with no concessions – a major victory rewarding years of solidarity by CWA members throughout the state and the hard work by the bargaining committee. Read more here. ### Frontier Communications CWA members at Frontier Communications in West Virginia and Ashburn, Va., have voted to ratify a new 4-year agreement. CWA members fought hard for this agreement, negotiating with the company for more than 11 months, and spending 22 days on strike. Thanks to their unity and perseverance, along with the unwavering support of working people in West Virginia, Virginia, and across the country, CWA members at Frontier won an agreement that raises wages, maintains affordable health care, and expands job security to all of their members covered by the contract. This is a major achievement, and it shows what working people can do when they join together to stand up for themselves and their communities. ### Piedmont Airlines The CWA passenger service agents at Piedmont Airlines will begin mediation with the company in July with the goal of reaching a fair agreement with family-supporting wages. — Apr 19
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On Tax Day and Beyond, CWAers Fight Back against Corporate Giveaways CWA members across the country held events on Tax Day to highlight how the Republican corporate tax cut bill is a massive giveaway to big corporations paid for by working families, and to rally their communities to fight back. Former AT&T call center worker and CWA Local 4004 President Merle Milton of Detroit spoke at a rally in Washington, D.C., calling out the company for recent layoffs in Michigan and across the country. "This December, AT&T announced that they were closing the call center where I've worked for 25 years," said Milton. "My co-workers and I worked hard to provide quality customer service and help grow AT&T into the successful company it is today. But instead of rewarding us for our dedication, AT&T is pulling out of our community and taking our jobs overseas – undermining customer service and hurting hardworking families. Workers deserve better, AT&T customers deserve better, and cities like Detroit deserve better." AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson promised to create 7,000 jobs if the GOP tax plan passed. Instead, despite a $20 billion windfall as a result of tax cuts in the bill, AT&T announced thousands of layoffs. The layoffs come as the company continues to eliminate good, middle-class jobs and rely increasingly on low-wage contractors overseas, devastating families and communities across America. CWA members are pushing Congress to pass legislation to fix some of the worst parts of the tax bill. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) has introduced the Reward Work Act, supported by CWA, which would prohibit harmful stock buybacks. Instead of raising wages and creating jobs, companies have been using their tax cut windfall to purchase their own stock, which enriches top executives and large shareholders. Despite promises from House Speaker Paul Ryan and other top Republicans that the tax bill would end offshoring, the tax bill actually contained incentives for companies to send jobs overseas. Democrats in Congress are rolling out legislation to remove these offshoring incentives and keep jobs in the U.S. Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-Tex.) and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) have introduced the No Tax Breaks for Outsourcing Act with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). ### How CWAers are Fighting Back Read CWA President Chris Shelton's statement on tax day 2018 here. Listen to Mark Frey of CWA Local 4630 on Wisconsin Public Radio talking about how AT&T is pocketing massive profits from the tax bill, but that windfall is not being shared with workers. (11:20) Top: CWA members and allies held a press conference outside of Congressman Jim Renacci's (R-Ohio) office in Parma to educate the public about how the new tax law in effect this year will harm working families. Bottom: Former AT&T call center worker and CWA Local 4004 President Merle Milton of Detroit spoke at a rally in Washington, D.C., calling out the company for laying off workers after receiving a massive windfall from the Republican corporate tax cut bill. — Apr 19
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Envoy and Piedmont Passenger Service Agents Call for Fair Wages Passenger service agents from American Airlines' subsidiaries Envoy Air and Piedmont Airlines, members of CWA, gathered at airports across the country on Monday – ahead of Tax Day – to rally for sustainable, family supporting wages. American and other corporations are facing national scrutiny over how they have used benefits from the Republican corporate tax cut bill that they claimed would lift wages for working families. The company posted $1.9 billion in profits last year and is expected to reap millions from the tax bill, but Envoy and Piedmont agents have faced years-long delays in contract negotiations, with both companies refusing to address the critical issue for working families: permanent, sustainable wages. Passenger service agents from Envoy Air and Piedmont Airlines rallied for sustainable, family supporting wages. — Apr 19
News
- Report on AT&T Reveals Thousands of Layoffs, Call Center Closures, and Rampant Outsourcing
- Workers Call on Labor Department to Investigate General Dynamics as Wage Theft is Uncovered at Five More Call Centers
- Bargaining Update
- On Tax Day and Beyond, CWAers Fight Back against Corporate Giveaways
- Envoy and Piedmont Passenger Service Agents Call for Fair Wages