AT&T South Carolina Workers Return to Work After 30-Day Strike | Business

Thousands of AT&T workers in South Carolina and seven other southeastern states have returned to work following the end of a 30-day strike.

The Communications Workers of America union said it reached a “strong, tentative” five-year labor agreement with the Dallas-based telecommunications giant last weekend.

The deal ended a months-long strike that began on August 16, about two weeks after the previous deal expired.

The CWA briefly interrupted mediation talks earlier this month.

The strike was the longest ever for Southeast union members, including about 800 in South Carolina. They were expected to return to work for scheduled shifts Monday.

The new contract is estimated to cover 15,000 to 17,000 technicians, customer service representatives and other workers who will install, maintain and support AT&T’s telecommunications network in eight Southern states.

“The key issues at the negotiating table were wages and health care costs,” the union said.

The new agreement includes a 19.33 percent pay rise for all employees, with an additional 3 percent pay rise for some employees.

The terms of the health care portion of the policy keep premiums at current levels for the first year and lower them for the next two years. Rates will increase slightly in the last 24 months of the contract.

AT&T said it expects CWA members to vote to ratify the deal “in the coming weeks.”

The company’s Southeast footprint includes the Carolinas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.

AT&T and the union also reached a separate but similar labor agreement this weekend. It covers about 8,500 workers in California and Nevada who had threatened to strike.

“We understand this has been a difficult time for all affected, and we are pleased that together we have found a common path forward to reach these agreements,” AT&T said in a written statement Sunday.

The company added that the new labor agreements “support our competitive position in the broadband industry, where we can grow and outperform our competitors, who are largely non-union.”