17,000 workers at AT&T's telephone service group in California and Nevada walked out on strike Wednesday after AT&T change work assignments for both technicians and call centre workers.

There has been no contract between the Communication Workers of American union and AT&T for nearly a year as contract negotiations continue while the previous contract is on a 72 hour rolling cycle.

This is the first major strike at AT&T for several years, but follows a 44 day strike last year at Verizon by over 30,000 workers during which there were several allegations of sabotage.

At the moment there was no end date to the strike.