Sisters and Brothers,


I hope that all of you and your families are doing well and staying safe.

As you are all aware, recently a communication was sent by the Company to all employees (both bargained for and non-bargained for) which was intended to be an informative overview of the new direction(s) AT&T, and its various operations, are heading in. The reality is the message presents cause for serious concern for our members and our Union. As these changes develop, we are continuing to engage the leadership of AT&T, at all levels, to determine the impact they will have on our members and will share with you the information that is available, when it is available.

The CWA International Executive Board voted to endorse Joe Biden for President of the United States.

Joe will appoint pro-worker NLRB and NMB members who believe in collective bargaining and want our labor laws to facilitate, not undermine, workers? efforts to form and join unions.

The CARES Act was recently passed by Congress in response to the COVID-19 crisis. The CARES Act also provides for special rules for use of retirement funds. Instituting these rules will result in a need to amend plan documents and SPDs to reflect the changes.

Sisters and Brothers,

We are certainly living in unprecedented times. I hope each of you are doing well, staying healthy, and being safe.

I know that during events like this, as union leaders we find ourselves busier than ever in an effort to support our members' needs. All too often, we forget to take care of ourselves and those around us doing this work.

An agreement between AT&T Midwest and CWA regarding temporary and limited participation in the Flexible Workplace Program has been reached. CWA has worked diligently with the company to protect and safeguard the health of our members during these unprecedented times. While all of our members in particular units are not covered by this agreement, many of our members will have this option to voluntarily participate in this program.

March 19, 2020

Brothers and Sisters,

I know that each and every one of you has felt the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. This crisis is unprecedented, and CWA members are on the front lines doing the work necessary to keep people informed, connected and safe during this difficult time.

The Robert D. Johnson Memorial Scholarship Fund, administered by the Cleveland Foundation, is now accepting applications for the 2020-2021 academic year. Application deadline is 5 p.m. EDT, April 15, 2020. Awards will be announced by June 15, 2020.

Beginning September 1, 2019, the new Paid Parental Leave policy will become effective for the Midwest bargaining unit. If anyone has a birth/adoption on or after this effective date, they will be eligible to participate in the program.

It is my understanding that our members will be notified of the effective date this Thursday. Additionally, an HR OneStop alert containing more details will be sent out next week.

Summary of Tentative Agreement (TA)

If an article is not mentioned in this summary that would indicate no substantive changes were made and the article was carried forward, keeping in mind date changes were made where applicable.

Over the last year and a half, the Bargaining Committee was continually faced with regressive proposals from the Company. From the beginning, your Bargaining Team fought for what we felt was right and were able to overcome many of those regressive Company proposals.

The Company essentially attacked each Article in the contract. We had to fight to maintain the current language and they attacked key elements of the agreement, such as:
 Eliminate Card Check and Neutrality
 Reducing the Watermark to 1630
 Article 43 watermark to 530
 Increasing all health care contributions to 32%
 No rolling in of the 2015 new hires

These are just a few examples of the regressive proposals that the Bargaining Team fought off.

The Bargaining team is currently working on a detailed summary for the contract explanation meeting for Local Presidents, which will be held on Tuesday, July 9th. The detailed information will then be shared with membership.
The following is a short summary of some highlights from the tentative agreement.