NEW ORLEANS — A sea of red is making its way up and down the 800 block of Poydras St. AT&T workers are on strike and demanding better from their employer. Union representatives tell us they called an unfair labor practice strike Friday afternoon.
"During our negotiations, it became painfully clear to us that AT&T was not putting people at the table that were authorized to bargain for us. So we were getting potential agreements along the way and they would not honor them so the decision was made to walk out on the unfair labor practice strike," Stephen Edler, President of the Communication Workers of America Union shop 3410 in New Orleans said.
Edler couldn't go too much into detail about specifics, but says he doesn't believe the union is asking for too much, but feels as if the company isn't hearing them.
"We just need AT&T to come back to the table and bargain with us fairly that’s all we’re asking for nothing more nothing less," Edler said.
The picket line in New Orleans isn't the only one. 17,000 workers over nine states in the southern region are striking. They say they're ready to be out there for as long as it takes, but AT&T says they're not sure why workers are striking.
AT&T released the following statement to WWL Louisiana.
“CWA’s claims of unfair labor practices are not grounded in fact. We have been engaged in substantive bargaining since day 1 and are eager to reach an agreement that benefits our hard-working employees. As evidence, we have reached 3 agreements this year covering more than 13,000 employees, including our most recent tentative agreement with District 9 (west). We remain committed to working with District 3 (southeast) in the same manner.
“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. This action needlessly jeopardizes the wages and well-being of our employees.
“We have various business continuity measures in place to avoid disruptions to operations and will continue to provide our customers with the great service they expect.”