AT&T, union agree on contract to increase pay, job protections

A major union has won significant job protection and increased pay for about 20,000 AT&T wireless employees, as well as a commitment to bring work back from overseas.

The deal, struck Wednesday, comes as President Donald Trump has made clear his desire to keep low- and middleskilled jobs in this country.

The union, for its part, offered to help make the case for AT&T’s proposed acquisition of Time Warner, which the Trump administration has opposed.

“We tried to emphasize to the company that we could help you or hurt you,” said Dennis Trainor, a vice president of the Communications Workers of America, which represents the workers. The union called in mid-November for approval of the acquisition.

The AT&T wireless workers had been without a longterm contract since February and staged a strike in May.

Under the labor accord, which primarily covers workers in call centers and retail outlets, AT&T will significantly increase the proportion of calls it routes to call centers in the United States, reversing a recent trend. It will also commit to giving workers a new job, in most cases, if the company closes the call center where they work.

The agreement is subject to ratification by the union membership in voting on a local level from now to Jan. 12.

The union estimated that AT&T had cut thousands of call center jobs since 2011 and sent many of them overseas.

The company agreed to shift some compensation that had been paid out as commissions into the base pay of retail workers.