As their strike entered its fourth day on Tuesday, around a dozen AT&T employees picketed near the company's training facility in South Jackson. Sweating in the hot sun, they wore red Communications Workers of America union shirts, and waved signs asking drivers passing by to "honk if you support workers."
This strike is already longer than the last one in 2019, which only lasted three days and resulted in a new contract. Workers say they're still dealing with the same labor issues that weren't addressed then.
“Stuff was just swept under the rug, (management) saying ‘we'll look into it’ and here we are now, five years later, and the conditions, in my opinion, have gotten worse,” said William Littlejohn, a wire technician who’s been with AT&T for 11 years.
Littlejohn wants to see their wages adjusted for inflation and fairness in how much different employee groups are asked to work.
Larry Coleman, a digital technician who's been with AT&T for 24 years, says the unfairness in employees’ workloads also extends to their pay scale. He says that there needs to be wage equity among technicians because younger employees are paid significantly less than more seasoned peers, despite doing the same work.
“We have to let them know that no technician out here is above another technician,” Coleman said. “Everybody's considered equal when it comes to putting your hands on cable out here. That's what it's all about.”
Eric Howard, a facility tech who's been with AT&T for 24 years, wants to see the company's shift system overhauled because of how it negatively impacts work-life balance. According to Howard, while they know what days they're working a few weeks ahead of time, the company decides what hours they'll work the day of.
“That's not fair for my wife and kids,” Howard said. “You know, there is more to being a man, from the aspect of providing, than just paying for things. You have to spend time with your wife, your children and all those things are important.”
Those finer points of the contract won't be addressed until both sides are back at the negotiating table. The workers’ union has filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board after accusing AT&T of bargaining in bad faith by sending negotiators who didn't understand the contract and weren't authorized to make a deal.
In a statement, an AT&T spokesperson said the allegations were not true, that the company has “been engaged in substantive bargaining since day one” and is “eager to reach an agreement that benefits our hard-working employees.”
