AT&T, Union Workers Could Be Headed for Easter Strike

AT&T and the Communication Workers of America are running out of time to reach an agreement, with a potential strike authorized for Easter Sunday if the two sides can not reach a deal on a contract.

AT&T Midwest, which includes Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, includes 15,000 CWA workers. About 18,000 more work within what CWA calls the AT&T West region. Union members include call-center employees, technicians and repairmen, responsible for interacting with the public and repairing outages and other problems. If a strike does occur, non-union employees will be filling those roles.

The frayed negotiations are not the first time that the union and a major telecommunications provider have failed to reach a contract. Last August, 45,000 Verizon workers walked off the job when the two sides failed to negotiate a contract. That strike lasted for two weeks, when union workers agreed to go back on the job on the terms of their original contracts.

The two sides have not agreed on a new contract

The two sides have not agreed on a new contract, and the CWA has joined T-Mobile and consumer groups in calling for the FCC to block Verizon's spectrum deal.