CWA Members Reach Tentative Agreement with Lumen

When Lumen announced four months ago that it would sell its most profitable mass-market fiber assets to AT&T, workers’ voices and futures were left out of the deal. After decades of loyal service and union contracts, Lumen’s proposed deal offered no protection for workers. CWA District 7 members fought back and reached a tentative agreement this week to protect themselves in case of future sales and to empower more Lumen workers to join our union.

CWAers won this tentative agreement by mobilizing in the workplace, in the community, with state Attorneys General, at state Public Utility Commissions, and at the federal level. Members’ mobilization efforts brought AT&T and Lumen to the table to address member concerns.

The tentative agreement expands neutrality language to all of Lumen and Lumen subsidiaries across the 15-state region of CWA District 7, opening the door to bring more members into our union. CWAers negotiated improved language to ensure that CWA members keep our union and our union contract in the case of future transactions or sales of any part of the Qwest business. Members also secured signing bonuses and annual 4 percent wage increases.

No worker should ever be treated as corporate collateral, to be traded or disposed of as corporate executives carve up the businesses members built. By standing together and fighting back as a union, CWA members at Lumen have asserted their dignity and worth.

Members will be voting on the tentative agreement in the coming weeks.

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This post originally appeared on cwa-union.org.