Florence AT&T Workers Join Nine-State Strike Over Contract Dispute

Residents of Florence, South Carolina are experiencing the fallout of an ongoing labor dispute, as AT&T employees from the region have joined a nine-state workers’ strike. These workers are part of almost 17,000 AT&T employees from across the southeast United States who walked off their jobs last Friday.

Negotiations left Unresolved

The dispute kicked off in June, when initial talks began between the telecommunications giant and Communication Workers of America (CWA), the union representing AT&T workers. As negotiations failed to reach an agreement, employees across nine states, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and two Carolinas, decided to down their tools.

Following the workers’ decision to strike, an outpouring of solidarity has been witnessed in Florence, with many locals supporting the striking workers.

The Standoff

The conflict is rooted in the company and the union’s inability to agree upon a new contract. While the specifics have not been publicly disclosed, the center of the dispute appears to hinge on wages and safety.

“We do feel bad about our customers that are left out hanging, waiting for service, needing help, getting stuff restored. But that kind of falls back on the company,” claimed a representative of the Florence chapter of the CWA. “All of this could have been resolved if they had just bargained in good faith to start with. Never would have been a strike if they had just done their job the way we tried to do our job.”

The state’s AFL-CIO chapter stated on Tuesday that it offers full support to the union’s demands for fair wages. The union has escalated the dispute by filing a National Labor Relations Board challenge against AT&T before workers walked off the job. The challenge surfaces amid serious concerns about undertrained managers and contractors performing highly technical work, thus putting patent safety issues into the limelight.

The Future of the Strike

AT&T has denied the union’s accusations and contends that the unfair labor claims put forward by the CWA are baseless. With both parties holding their ground, the length and eventual resolution of the strike remain uncertain.

“We don’t want our people suffering. Going on strike is a lot of suffering for a lot of people. I’m not necessarily saying we’re going hungry, but … our family counts on us to work,” a union spokesperson said. Workers and union leaders alike will continue the fight for labor equality and better conditions.