Cingular, CWA reach agreement on labor deal

(Telephony) Cingular Wireless and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) have reached a tentative agreement on a four-year contract that affects more than 2,000 workers at facilities in four states.

The contract is subject to ratification by the CWA rank and file and is the first between the CWA and Cingular, which was formed when the wireless divisions of SBC and BellSouth merged.

The agreement establishes a pay progression system, provides a minimum 15.3% wage increase over the contract period, puts into place a grievance and mediation procedure, and creates improved working conditions, including flexible work scheduling, according to the CWA. The contract covers workers in Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, and Maryland.

This contract is an important step for the CWA because the wireless marketplace represents one of the real growth areas in the telecommunications industry, according to Ray Hodges, a senior consultant with Technologies Futures.

“The unions see the wireline companies as stagnant or in decline,” he explained. “Consolidation of these companies has led to a lot of labor-force reductions. So unionizing wireless has been a key strategic area for the unions. It’s not as labor intensive as wireline, but it is a good place to go for those who are getting displaced due to consolidation.”

Hodges added that the unionization should have little impact on Cingular over the short term, but could have significant long-term implications.

“This probably won’t put Cingular at a big disadvantage, at least initially, because labor is not the largest cost they have, and because of the relatively small number of union workers who will be involved,” he said. “Of course, there is the danger in the future that once the union establishes a hold in a key function, they will be able to expand that hold each time the contract comes up.

“In other words, if they have leverage in one large segment of the business, they can then settle future negotiations not with raises, but by opening additional areas of the business to the union. I suspect that Cingular sees this as more of a risk than the initial unionization of some of its employees.”