https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/d3a48x/atandt-workers-fight-for-their-lives-as-company-faces-investor-revolt
4 replies (most recent on top)
Union represented employees are not just at risk on the quarterly dates. That’s just when the company knows they will put out lists. I know as far as my location is concerned, many of us are waiting for notification as we’ve watched our contract go from 100k members to 3k members over the last 20 years.
The headline is a little too dramatic. They are fighting for their jobs, not their lives. Something many other people have been through.
There is no guarantee a union employee will not get outsourced though. Surplus happens only every quarter for them, but their work group and jobs can be outsourced at any time.
This article focuses on union workers, who are mostly protected (at the moment) from the current wave of downsizing, offshoring & layoffs. According to AT&T leadership, non-management (aka union) workers are unaffected at this time. The current chaos is mainly being targeted at management (aka non-union) workers in the Finance & Billing groups. It's looking like as many as 75% of these US employees could be pink-slipped within the next 6 months to be replaced by contractors & offshore (non-US) workers. I'm sure union folks will be targeted eventually, but right now non-union workers are the ones being hit. AT&T doesn't want a PR battle with the unions yet.