AT&T reached new labor contracts with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) on a new three year, four month agreements covering 11,000 pre-merger AT&T employees. The contracts remain in effect through April 4, 2009.
Following are highlights of the tentative agreements:
- Wages: The agreements provide for four annual base wage increases at 11.2 percent, compounded, over the life of the contracts.
- Pension: Pension benefits were increased by six percent in 2006 and by an additional five percent in 2008.
- Healthcare: The agreements help the company control healthcare costs, but do not require monthly contributions. Employee co-pays and maximum out of pocket limits were increased for medical and prescription drug benefits for employee and retiree coverage. The retiree healthcare cap on company contributions, which was increased to $9,000 per retiree, provides that no retiree will contribute toward the point of service or traditional indemnity options during the term of the agreements.
- Employment Security: An agreement was reached that prior to employees being laid off, AT&T Inc. will offer employees a position within the company.
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