Georgia AT&T workers join 17,000 others in strike by Communications Workers of America

This past weekend kicked off a strike against one of the nation's biggest cell phone providers.

On Friday, Communications Workers of America employed by AT&T Southeast announced they are going on strike. Their news release says more than 17,000 technicians, customer service representatives, and other workers will be involved from Georgia as well as Alabama, the Carolinas, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee.

CWA said the strike was called to protest unfair labor practices committed by management during negotiations for a new union contract. The union filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board against AT&T charging them with not bargaining in good faith, engaging in surface bargaining, and not sending representatives to the bargaining table with the authority to make decisions. They also claimed the company has refused to bargain over mandatory subjects of bargaining and reneged on agreements made in bargaining.

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CWA District 3 Vice President Richard Honeycutt said they have been met with company representatives unable to explain their own bargaining proposals and did not seem to have the actual bargaining authority required.

“Our members want to be on the job, providing the quality service that our customers deserve," he said. "It’s time for AT&T to start negotiating in good faith so that we can move forward towards a fair contract."

AT&T put out a news release on the same day, saying CWA's claims are not grounded in fact and the company has been engaged in substantive bargaining from the beginning.

"We’re disappointed that union leaders would call for a strike at this point in the negotiations, rather than directing their energies toward constructive discussions at the bargaining table," the company said. "This action needlessly jeopardizes the wages and well-being of our employees."

AT&T went on to say that measures are in place to avoid disruptions to operations and to continue its services to customers.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Georgia AT&T workers join 17,000 others in strike by Communications Workers of America