AT&T Workers to Stay on Job Without Deal on a Contract

About 40,000 AT&T landline employees will work this week without a contract. The workers’ contracts expired over the weekend, raising the possibility of a strike. But the Communications Workers of America and AT&T said that they would keep negotiating on a new accord.

For now, the employees will continue to receive the same wages and benefits as before. If negotiations break down, they still have the option to call for a walkout. An AT&T spokesman, Marty Richter, also said talks were continuing. He said earlier that the company had been planning for the possibility for a strike for two years, and managers and vendors would step in to keep phone service running if there was a walkout. At issue in the negotiations are job protection clauses and health care premiums and co-payments. AT&T says that it wants employees to pay for more of their increasing health care costs and that it wants more leeway to downsize its shrinking landline operations. Some of its workers have contracts that guarantee them job offers at different parts of the company if they are laid off. Union organizers point to the overall financial health of the company, which reported earnings of $4 billion last year.