JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — With the Communication Workers of America (CWA) Union and AT&T at a standstill, AT&T customers can expect delays in service as thousands of workers go on strike across the Southeastern U.S.
The "work stoppage," which is expected to last until 10 a.m. Wednesday, means more than 20,000 AT&T employees across nine states, including Florida and Georgia, are off the clock.
"This is major," said local technician Shawn Green. "We want the two sides to come together."
Dozens showed up to picket a technician center off Mill Creek Road in the Regency area early Saturday. The strike officially started at midnight, and workers from that center were in front of the building with signs early in the morning.
CWA leadership said AT&T management is having to make up for the workforce gap, which means customers will no doubt see delays.
"This is not something we did lightly and we apologize for our customers," said local CWA President Eric Brunke, who oversees a district spanning the First Coast. "But this is something that we at a district level and with the support of our national, felt that we had to do because the situation had gotten so bad."
Brunke and the CWA allege AT&T is engaging in unfair labor practices, specifically that the telecommunication company is ignoring agreements made in subcommittees, effectively stalling the union through back channels.
The CWA is claiming that AT&T committed three unfair labor practices including bargaining in bad faith with the union, overturning an established past practice with regards to the bargain processes, and unfair practices regarding the suspension of employees and threats of discipline for participating in "protected concerted activities."
Atlanta affiliate 11Alive reached out to AT&T for comment and received the following response:
"A strike would be in no one's best interest," said AT&T Spokesperson Jim Kimberly. "We're baffled as to why union leadership would call one when we're offering terms that would help our employees - some of whom average from $121,000 to $134,000 in total compensation - be even better off."
Meanwhile, AT&T locations across the First Coast are being picketed by their own workers. The majority of those involved in the work stoppage are technicians, those who typically deal with calls for service. Some call center employees are also involved.
While service is normally scaled back on weekends, CWA members said the start of the work week on Monday is when the effects of the strike will start to be felt on a large scale.
"Everybody standing out here wants to go to work," Brunke said. "Nobody wants to lose their wages, nobody wants to treat our customers this way and have our customers suffer. This is not against our customers, this is against our company to come to us at the table and do what's right."