Union Threatens ‘Electronic Boycott’ Against AT
The president of the Communications Workers of America Monday threatened to launch a novel boycott of AT&T; long-distance services if the union has not reached a contract settlement with the company by May 27, when the current labor agreement expires.
“We are prepared . . . to picket the invisible electronic services offered by AT&T; just like we picket on the sidewalk against the manufactured products that come off the assembly,” said union President Morton Bahr in a speech on the opening day of the union’s convention in Los Angeles.
Bahr later told reporters that in the proposed “electronic boycott,” union members would be urged to bypass AT&T; as their long-distance carrier by dialing a five-digit access code that would route their call to US Sprint, one of AT&T;’s biggest competitors. With each diverted call, AT&T; would lose revenue.
No Cost to Switch
It would not cost potential boycotters anything to temporarily divert their calls from AT&T;, Bahr said, unlike three years ago when the union first considered using the tactic. At the time, he said, it would have cost a regular AT&T; customer $5 to shift to Sprint and another $5, along with filling out paper work, to restore AT&T; service.
Bahr said it was “ironic” that the advent of more sophisticated technology, which frequently has hurt unions and resulted in job losses, now could be used by unions to their benefit. He said that if the boycott were to be waged, it would be done in conjunction with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the other union that represents AT&T; workers.
The two unions have engaged in coordinated bargaining on behalf of their 175,000 AT&T; workers this year for the first time in history. Today, Jack Barry, the Electrical Workers’ president, is scheduled to brief the AFL-CIO executive council on the unions’ proposed “electronic picket line campaign” and Bahr said he expected that the council will pass a resolution in support of the campaign.
Monday’s announcement represents a slight escalation in the unions’ bargaining posture. The CWA conducted a 17-day strike against AT&T; in 1986 before settling its first contract after the breakup of the Bell system.
It is difficult for a strike to have a major impact on AT&T; because so much telephone service is automated. In recent weeks, Bahr and other CWA leaders have been hinting that they would unveil a new tactic in negotiations for a new three-year contract with AT&T.; “Changing conditions in the telecommunications industry require new strategies” for the union to achieve its goals, Bahr told 3,500 union members at Los Angeles Convention Center.
At Odds Before
Bahr said he thought an electronic boycott could do “serious short-term damage” to AT&T;’s revenues. However, he said the unions preferred not to use such tactics.
He said he was optimistic that a settlement could be reached without a strike or boycott, despite the fact that the CWA has struck AT&T; in each of their last two rounds of negotiations. Thus far this year, the company and the union have been at odds over at least two major issues: the CWA’s attempt to restore a cost-of-living adjustment clause in the contract that it gave up in 1986, and AT&T;’s attempt to make union members bear a greater proportion of health care costs than they currently do.
“We’re still very hopeful that there won’t be a strike,” said AT&T; spokesman Edith Herman in Washington. “Bargaining appears to be going along according to schedule,” she said. Serious negotiations normally don’t get going until about two weeks before a contract expires.
Herman was critical of the threatened boycott. “We find it odd and self-defeating for a union to encourage the use of a non-union company,” she said, noting that Sprint’s workers are not organized. Herman said that since such a tactic has never been used that it is impossible to predict what impact it might have.
Against Wage Increase
The convention delegates gave a warm response to Labor Secretary Elizabeth Dole, who praised the CWA as a union that has “become renown for promoting some unique, pacesetting programs which are improving the lives of workers and their families.”
After her speech, she reiterated to reporters the Bush Administration’s opposition to raising the minimum wage to $4.65 an hour from the current level of $3.35 an hour, in three steps, as proposed by Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. She asserted that Bush would veto any increase over $4.25 an hour.
Although he expressed warm personal regards for Dole, Bahr said he thought Bush had “chosen a very poor issue on which to have his first confrontation with organized labor,” which supports the Kennedy bill. The difference between $4.25 and $4.65 would enable families “to buy another loaf of bread” or other necessities, Bahr said. “Bush ought to go into the barrios and the ghettos to find out himself.”
