Update on March 23: Less than 24 hours after it began, AT&T said that "The brief grievance strike has been resolved and employees are returning to work today."

Negotiations for a new contract are still ongoing, but in the meantime AT&T agreed that it "will no longer require technicians to perform work assignments outside of their expertise and classification," the union said.

Original story:

About 17,000 AT&T wireline technicians and call center employees went on strike in California and Nevada today while filing an unfair labor charge to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) alleging that AT&T violated federal law.

"The company has shown disrespect to the bargaining process by changing the work assignments of workers without bargaining as required by federal law," the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union said in its strike announcement. "Further, AT&T reneged on an agreement to resolve the dispute without any explanation."

The CWA said that AT&T "is asking its workers to do more for less—keeping them from their families with unpredictable overtime, undercutting pay and advancement, offshoring good jobs, and pushing more health care costs onto employees."

When contacted by Ars, an AT&T spokesperson said the company "compl[ies] with the law and the terms of our collective bargaining agreements." Under the National Labor Relations Act, employers must refrain from unilateral action in matters that are subject to bargaining "and from making changes in terms and conditions of employment without consulting the employees’ representative," the NLRB explains.

According to the CWA, "AT&T has been violating the current terms and conditions of employment by forcing technicians on the West Coast to do work that is outside their areas of expertise and threatening their ability to deliver the best services for their customers."

Customer service effects

AT&T said it will do its best to prevent the strike from harming customer service. "We’re very prepared to continue serving customers," AT&T told Ars. "We’re a customer service company, and we plan for all contingencies, whether related to weather, natural disasters, work stoppages, or any other factors." The strike involves landline employees and not any employees from the mobile phone division, the company said.

Last year, 36,000 Verizon workers struck for 44 days, and during that time, Verizon said there were dozens of instances of network vandalism.

"A walkout is not in anybody’s best interest, and it’s unfortunate that the union chose to do that. We’re engaged in discussion with the union to get these employees back to work as soon as possible," AT&T said today.

The California and Nevada workers "are some of the most highly paid union-represented employees in the company, and that will not change," AT&T also said. "We are not proposing to reduce the wages of any employees in these contracts, and we remain committed to providing great benefits. As health care costs continue to increase, employees in this contract pay 40 percent less for medical care than the national average, and they pay less than AT&T managers."

The employees have been working without a contract for nearly a year and are picketing AT&T call centers and offices in California and Nevada.

Mayors and other elected officials from California and Nevada have taken the workers' side in negotiations and have criticized AT&T for slow Internet service and long phone outages.

Though the strike involves only landline workers, the CWA also criticized AT&T's treatment of DirecTV and mobile employees. About 2,200 DirecTV satellite and warehouse workers in the two states joined the CWA last year and are now negotiating with AT&T for their first contract, the union said.

"Nationwide, more than 21,000 AT&T wireless customer service and field workers are working under a contract extension that can be terminated with 72 hours’ notice as they continue to bargain with the company," the CWA also said. The wireless workers are calling for an "end to offshoring and outsourcing."