New Haven Independent
by Melissa Bailey | April 27, 2009 1:49 PM
As phone company workers gird for a possible strike, a National Labor Relations Board official has slammed AT&T for refusing to bargain in good faith.
The ruling by Jonathan Kreisberg, acting regional director of the NLRB in Hartford, represents a step forward for a union thats locked in a battle with AT&T to retain jobs in Connecticut.
To get the NLRB to rule in your favor is a big thing, said Bill Henderson, president of the union, 
Communications Workers of America Local 1298.
Henderson said negotiations between his union and AT&T have made little progress since they began on Feb. 24. The talks affect 4,300 AT&T employees statewide who have been working without a contract since their last one expired on April 4, he said.
Union leaders are planning a solidarity rally on the New Haven Green at 11 a.m. on May 16.
The lack of progress so far has some workers bracing for another strike, as happened briefly in 2004. The company has secured replacement workers to spring into action if workers walk out, confirmed AT&T spokesman Walt Sharp. In a tough economy, Henderson said, hes working hard to avoid that outcome.
A strike is always a possibility, said Henderson, but a strike to me is when everything else fails.
Henderson spoke during a break in negotiations this week at the companys local headquarters at 310 Orange St. The building is home to one of five bargaining tables across the country: Five contracts covering approximately 80,500 employees in the land line business of AT&T expired on April 4, said Sharp. All those employees are working under the terms of their expired contract.
Back at 300 George St., workers described an atmosphere of low morale, with tension running high, as they wait on the outcome of continuing talks.
"It feels like your life is holding on by a string," said one customer service representative, whos worked at AT&T for eight years. With a kid in college, she said she can't afford to have her job shipped out of state.
"We're not complaining about the money," she said. "We just want to keep what we have."
