AT$T and CWA Local 1298 Still Far Apart
The East region is the only district where the contract expired on April 4 but no agreement has yet been reached. The contract in District 3 expired Aug. 8.Negotiations between District 1 and AT&T began Feb. 28, but the last time the two sides met across the bargaining table was Oct. 8.
Walt Sharp, spokesman for AT&T in Texas, said the union has not asked to meet since then. "We're waiting for the union to indicate they want to talk," he said.
William Henderson, president of Local 1298 of the CWA, which represents about 4,000 landline workers in Connecticut, said Thursday that the reason the union has not requested to meet again is that the company is not willing to discuss the union's concerns.
"We said, 'Look, we're bargaining with ourselves here. It takes two people to come to a contract,'" Henderson said, adding that the company was giving the union negotiators "ultimatums." He said the union's key issue is job security, since AT&T has eliminated or moved about 1,200 Connecticut jobs over the
