FLEMING ISLAND, Fla. — Thousands of AT&T Southeast employees across nine different states, including Florida, are on strike, citing unfair labor practices from AT&T's management during negotiations for a new union contract, according to Communications Workers of America (CWA).
CWA said it filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board against AT&T for "not bargaining in good faith, engaging in surface bargaining, and not sending representatives to the bargaining table with the authority to make decisions," a news release states.
The strike began Friday at 3 p.m. and involves more than 17,000 technicians, customer service representatives and other employees across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.
AT&T employees in Fleming Island are also involved in the strike.
Debra Val is an employee at an AT&T location on Town Center Boulevard in Fleming Island. She said 100 employees were participating in the strike on Saturday.
Val said the group plans to continue the strike until AT&T "begins bargaining in good faith."
"Our members want to be at work, providing the quality service that our customers rely on," said Val, who is the group's strike captain. "AT&T needs to start bargaining in good faith so that we can get back to work while we finish negotiating a fair contract."
First Coast News reached out to AT&T for comment on the strike and received the following response:
"CWA’s claims of unfair labor practices are not grounded in fact. We have been engaged in substantive bargaining since day 1 and are eager to reach an agreement that benefits our hard-working employees. As evidence, we have reached 3 agreements this year covering more than 13,000 employees, including our most recent tentative agreement with District 9 (west). We remain committed to working with District 3 (southeast) in the same manner. We’re disappointed that union leaders would call for a strike at this point in the negotiations, rather than directing their energies toward constructive discussions at the bargaining table. This action needlessly jeopardizes the wages and well-being of our employees. We have various business continuity measures in place to avoid disruptions to operations and will continue to provide our customers with the great service they expect."