IBEW Local 21

Breaking News - AT&T Contract Ratifies

Tuesday, September 29, 2009 - all ballots received for the AT&T contract ratification vote have now been counted. The contract has been ratified by the membership. The new 3-year agreement will remain in effect until June 23, 2012. Solidarity!

IBEW – AT&T Tentative Agreement Overview & Ratification Timeline
Updated September 17, 2009

As previously announced, the IBEW reached a tentative agreement with AT&T for a new three-year collective bargaining agreement. IBEW Local 21 scheduled and announced a series of seven AT&T Contract Overview Meetings across the jurisdiction for members to attend, hear the details of the tentative agreement and to get answers for any questions they may have had. All Tentative Agreement Overview Meetings are now concluded.

The actual ratification vote will be conducted by mail, with that process explained below.

Timeline and Process for Contract Vote
September 16, 2009 - IBEW Local 21 will mail to all members’ homes, a summary of the new contract changes, a ballot to vote for or against ratification, and a pre-addressed envelope to mail back your ballot.

September 28-29, 2009 - Ballots will be counted on September 28th & 29th, 2009.

September 29, 2009 - All votes must be received at the IBEW Local Union 21 union office by Tuesday, September 29, 2009.

September 30, 2009 - The final results of the ratification vote will be announced on Wednesday, September 30, 2009.

Below is the slideshow that was shown at the seven AT&T Contract Overview Meetings. Click on the image to open the slideshow. If you cannot open the slideshow, you will need to download and install the latest version of Adobe Reader by clicking here.

The 2009 AT&T Bargaining Q & A below provides details of the benefit changes are shown on Attachment A. In an effort to make the changes clearly understood, the following questions and answers should help. If you cannot open the document, you will need to download and install the latest free version of Adobe Reader by clicking here.

Additional information can found on the U.S. Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service’s website and in IRS Publication 502.

To review IRS Publication 502 on the IRS website, click here.

NEW! Updated October 6, 2009

The IBEW Bargaining team thanks all members for their mobilization efforts, involvement and continued support. Continue to mobilize, continue to stand strong, stay united, and as always, stand together.

** BREAKING NEWS ** on August 16, 2009

IBEW Reaches Tentative Agreement with AT&T

Hoffman Estates, IL - The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) announced that it has reached a tentative three-year agreement with AT&T. The new agreement affects 10,000 IBEW members employed at AT&T in New England, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, California and the Northwest.

The agreement provides for both wage and pension band increases in all three years for the vast majority of employees. Wages will increase 3 percent in the first and second years and 2.75 percent in the third year. Pension bands will increase 2 percent in every year of the agreement. In the third year, for both wage and pension band increases, there is an opportunity for a cost-of-living adjustment tied to the Consumer Price Index.

Health care benefits remain among the best in the nation, providing for fully funded preventive care and company-funded health reimbursement accounts that can be used toward any eligible health care expense. The agreement also provides for continued good health insurance coverage with some cost sharing.

“IBEW members are a big part of AT&T’s past and present success and we expect that their value will be recognized and rewarded for years to come as a result of these talks”, said Ronald E. Kastner, chairman of the IBEW’s negotiating committee.

These historic negotiations included workers who were original AT&T employees and remained working for the company after it was forced to divest its original Bell Telephone units as a result of a 1984 federal anti-trust enforcement order, as well as workers of the former SBC.

The tentative agreement is subject to ratification by the union membership. The IBEW will announce details of the ratification process in the days ahead.

The IBEW’s Negotiating Committee thanks all IBEW members for their support during these negotiations. Collectively, it is with your direct participation that we were able to reach today’s agreement. Solidarity!

Photos below are from the historic IBEW–AT&T WTF SOLIDARITY RALLY held on Friday, August 14, 2009 at AT&T’s IL Headquarters in Hoffman Estates, IL. (More will follow in the days ahead)

Video from the Rally can be found on IBEW Local Union 21’s YouTube Channel under Videos and under Favorites. Additional video will be added soon so check back often

IBEW Update #41
IBEW – AT&T – WTF SOLIDARITY RALLY
Friday, August 14, 2009

Who: IBEW Members, Families & Friends
When: Begins on Friday August 14, 2009 at 7:00pm / Continues to ?
Where: AT&T IL Headquarters, 2001 Lakewood BLVD, Hoffman Estates, IL

All Members, Families & Friends are invited and encouraged to attend!
Contact: Brian Gee 217-840-9851

WTF - Why This Friday?
To demonstrate our collective support for our IBEW bargaining teams, to rally around unresolved issues like health care, scheduling, retiree benefits, access to jobs in new technologies, for our premise technicians, engineering assistants, customer consultants, and more.
On Friday, August 14, 2009, It will be 89 days since IBEW bargaining with AT&T began;
We’re Walking the Line on Day 89!

AT&T is dismantling the middle class one Job at a time.

AT&T’s Shameful Deception - AT&T is using the economic crisis to claim it needs more concessions from its workers represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and Communication Workers of America (CWA). AT&T is making these demands while they continue to reap huge dividends despite the global recession. STOP AT&T GREED! Send a letter to AT&T CEO and your elected officials… [more]

Click on the image above to send a letter to the AT&T CEO and your elected officials

Watch where the AT&T Greed truck has traveled

Rank-n-File Solidarity Actions Across IL & IN on First Day of AT&T Negotiations

IBEW Opens Negotiations With AT&T - Workers Seek Fair Contract

Washington, DC - The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) opens negotiations with AT&T on Monday, May 18, 2009, aiming to get a fair and equitable contract with the nations largest telephone company, whose net income in 2008 rose 7.7 percent to $12.9 billion. --> [More]

IBEW Local 21 Mobilizes at AT&T Shareholder Meeting

Dallas, Texas - On April 24, 2009, IBEW Local Union 21 President-Business Manager Ronald Kastner led a union delegation to the 2009 AT&T Shareholder Meeting. While driving to the 66-acre Dallas Arboretum (www.dallasarboretum.org), we saw the monstrous new AT&T headquarters. AT&T had police at the gate, trying to direct us to entrances far from the site. They wanted activists to park in a "special" lot, far away from "normal" shareholders, probably because of our thought provoking "Will Strike if Provoked" snake shirts. Our delegation refused to comply with those requests.

IBEW 21 & CWA Activists Rally outside the AT&T Shareholder Meeting

Upon parking, we quickly joined with other CWA rank-n-file activists for a few photos. Shockingly, a company representative (with umbrella in the photo slideshow) told us we could not congregate, could not carry posters, banners, or flags of any kind. She specifically said we could not even display the United States flag! We did anyway, proudly, ignoring her corporate ignorance as you will see in our slideshow. [More]

AT&T RETIREE'S ARE SAYING,

LEAVE OUR HEALTH CARE BENEFITS ALONE, WE HAVE EARNED THEM!

AT&T says they want concessions on health benefits during 2009 contract negotiations. Retirees' health benefits are also likely to be affected, if AT&T gets their way.

The fact is every active and retired member of IBEW Local 21 paid for our health care benefits up front. We helped AT&T become the highly profitable corporation it is today. We accepted lower wages in order to preserve our health care benefits and help the company contain health care costs for decades. Altering this promise would be an unethical breach of the contract between employer and employee.

It's time to let AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson hear from us. The message should be clear. LEAVE OUR HEALTH CARE BENEFITS ALONE, WE HAVE EARNED THEM!

CLICK HERE to show your support by sending a message to AT&T CEO Stephenson, or go to: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/attdeliver

Check out the *NEW* IBEW Local Union 21 Channel on YouTube!

Watch video’s of retiree’s discussing worker unity and the importance of mobilizing during contract talks and more. Comment and tell us what you think! Just go to: http://www.youtube.com/user/local21ibew or click on the image below.

It’s Time Corporations like AT&T Did the Right Thing!

Nearly 100,000 members of the Communications Workers of America are still on the job at AT&T across the nation, even though their contracts with the telecommunications giant expired over the weekend with many key issues not resolved.

Click the image above or go to:
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/standupforworkers to tell AT&T that organized labor is united and mobilized behind the CWA members and their bargaining teams.

The Scab

After God had finished the rattlesnake, the toad, and the vampire, he had some awful substance left with which he made a scab.

A scab is a two-legged animal with a corkscrew soul, a water brain, a combination backbone of jelly and glue. Where others have hearts, he carries a tumor of rotten principles.

When a scab comes down the street, men turn their backs and angels weep in heaven, and the devil shuts the gates of hell to keep him out.

No man (or woman) has a right to scab so long as there is a pool of water to drown his carcass in, or a rope long enough to hang his body with.

Judas was a gentleman compared with a scab. For betraying his master, he had character enough to hang himself. A scab has not.

Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. Judas sold his Savior for thirty pieces of silver. Benedict Arnold sold his country for a promise of a commission in the British army.

The scab sells his birthright, country, his wife, his children and his fellowmen for an unfulfilled promise from his employer. Esau was a traitor to himself; Judas was a traitor to his God; Benedict Arnold was a traitor to his country.

A scab is a traitor to his God, his country, his family and his class.

Jack London (1876-1916)

CHUCK, CHUCK, CHUCK …

So, we got under his skin a little bit. After posting several photos of AT&T Scabs in training, the scab that took the pictures got nervous, contacted YouTube, claiming a copyright claim against Local 21 for posting the photos on YouTube and on our website. Almost 5000 people all around the world viewed the photos, which by the way, were offered free for download to anyone, right from the Scabs own website, Chuck Bradley Dot Net.

Oddly, the AT&T Scab isn’t so proud anymore. Not only did he want them removed from our site, he now removed them even from his own.

So we say, CHUCK, CHUCK, CHUCK, quit lying to us babe! Isn’t the real reason you want them removed is because you don’t want people to know you’re an AT&T Scab! Me think so.

AT&T Job Security Mobilization Action in Chicago

All CWA and IBEW Local 21 Chicago Area Union Members and Retirees are invited to join us at lunchtime on Thursday, March 19, 2009 in front of the 10 South Canal AT&T Building in Chicago.

Click on the image above to download “Job Security Flyer�� to handbill, post and distribute at your work locations, in PDF format.

ISSUE: Health Care - The AT&T Management Plan

Following are some of the details of the AT&T Management Plan that Upper Management wants union workers to accept, just so the company can stay competitive. Most of management is already in the “Consumer Driven Plan��, paying thousands of dollars out of pocket, but then again, they don’t have a union. Brothers and Sisters – this is one of the main areas we will battle during the upcoming negotiations.

Click on image above to see slideshow

Breaking News Regarding 2009 AT&T Contract Negotiations

March 1, 2009 - IBEW Local Union 21 President-Business Manager Ron Kastner announces that a historic agreement has just been reached regarding our upcoming contract negotiations. IBEW Local Union 21 has reached an agreement with the seventeen (17) IBEW Local Unions that currently represent the “Legacy T�� AT&T union represented employees throughout the United States.

Those Local Unions have agreed to change the expiration dates of their contracts to match IBEW Local Union 21’s contract expiration date of June 27, 2009. Working with these other local unions and the IBEW International, our union was also able to get AT&T to agree to nationwide bargaining.

The nationwide bargaining will be conducted right here in Illinois and headed up by our President-Business Manager Ron Kastner. Brothers and Sisters, this is the first time in over 25 years that an agreement has been reached on nationwide bargaining with AT&T. So now, AT&T workers in Boston, New Jersey, Philadelphia, California, and many other locations across the country will unite with us as we join together, fighting for the best contract possible.

President-Business Manager Ron Kastner believes this historic agreement puts us in an outstanding position as we approach what is sure to be the most difficult contract negotiations our union has ever experienced.

Sign up for Text Message IBEW Local Union 21 Breaking News Alerts

February 28, 2009 – For the first time ever, members can sign up for breaking news and action alerts on their personal cell phones. All you have to do is send a new text message from your personal (do not use a company issued phone) cell or mobile to 69866, including in the body of the message: ibew21. See image below.

A Message about 2009 AT&T Contract Negotiations from IBEW Local Union 21 President-Business Manager Ronald E. Kastner

Bargaining contracts is an ongoing and constant process in our Local Union. IBEW Local 21’s largest agreement is with AT&T and covers approximately 9,000 members. It expires on June 27, 2009. Sisters and Brothers, it is not overstating the situation to say that this will be the fight of our lives.

Recently I received a warning shot all the way from Dallas, Texas. It confirms what I have been telling our membership for the past several months. Like pirates on the high seas searching for gold, AT&T Corporation is after our benefits. They are making numerous attempts to communicate this to each of you, telling you what they feel you should accept. They justify their thievery of our benefits by explaining that their own managers have accepted the so-called consumer driven health plan. What they don’t tell you is managers pay $5,000 to $7,000 in out of pocket expenses a year, and they are very unhappy about it.

To expect our membership to accept a health care plan that was forced down the throat of their managers is totally outrageous. We should not become the scapegoats because they have a management mutiny on their hands. How dare they imply that union members should accept the same! More than anything else, this is a betrayal of the faith that should exist between an employer and employee. Many of us gave up wages in our early years of working for AT&T because of the promise of benefits they would provide.

We have worked diligently to build up the company, made them who they are, and in turn, they now treat us with this type of disrespect. Furthermore, this strategy on the part of AT&T is not at all in accordance with the health care reform package that President Barack Obama plans to implement in our country. His health care plan provides for a $2,500 yearly savings for many American families (see www.whitehouse.gov ). Why would union members pay more when a savings is on the horizon?

As we prepare ourselves for both prolonged and intense negotiations and the possibility of a strike, please keep in mind that your bargaining team is only as strong as you make it. You need to expect decent wages, job security, and healthcare for life. You need decent working conditions in order to perform your job properly and with dignity. You need to refuse to let this bargaining become the bailout plan for AT&T.

Stay informed.
Sign up for Local 21 e-activist News and Action Alerts, refer often to this website, union bulletin boards, check the Resource column on this page, and call our hotline often (metropolitan Chicago 630-415-2711, outstate 866 423-9582). Keep in touch with your internal organizing mobilization groups. Mobilize, participate in actions, and always remember, Solidarity is the key to Victory!