# 1983 AT&T strike

The 1983 AT&T strike was a 21-day strike of 675,000 telephone workers in the US after contract negotiations broke down with AT&T.
The strike began on August 7, 1983, and ended on August 28. It ended following concessions from both the unions and AT&T negotiators, leading to a tentative agreement. Short of initial goals, telecommunication workers were promised a 5.5% wage increase during the first year of the resulting contract and a 1.5% increase for the following two years.

## Background

the Communication Workers of America (CWA), the largest of the three unions involved in the strike, represented about 525,000 workers in the telecommunications industry at the time. The most recent CWA strike prior to the one that took place in 1983 was the 1971 AT&T strike. The two other unions involved in the strike, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and International Telecommunications Union (ITU) represented about 100,000 and 50,000 workers respectively.
During the strike, AT&T was in the process of divestiture, breaking it into 22 local operating companies that was set to formally occur on January 1, 1984. Among those responsible for overseeing the divestment were people employed as managers within Bell System, a subsidiary of AT&T. Bell System's middle-management had previously been responsible for overseeing work performance, however, as of 1983 this review had largely been automated.
By the time of the strike, 97% of basic phone services had been automated, significantly reducing the leverage striking workers had over AT&T. During this time, most calls were dialed directly. One area where telecommunications workers retained leverage was in the process of AT&T's divestment, as among the strikers were the clerical workers responsible for enacting the divestment.

## Strike

The unions' previous contracts had been set to expire one minute after midnight on August 7, 1983. As the unions were unable to reach an agreement with AT&T before then, they immediately went on strike. At its peak, 675,000 telecommunications workers were on strike across the United States.
By the end of the second week of the strike, union leadership noted there remained substantial differences between them and AT&T negotiators.
CWA spokesperson Duayne Trecker argued that Southwestern Bell was exploiting the effects of Hurricane Alicia to sway public opinion against the strikers, following a call to the public from Southwestern Bell seeking volunteers to restore telephone service to Texas residents affected by the hurricane. Telecommunications infrastructure repair people were among those participating in the AT&T strike. Emergency crews of union employees were already prepared to restore telephone services on a volunteer basis at the time. Trecker also claimed that the company threatened to replace all striking workers in the affected region, which AT&T spokesperson Pic Wagner denied.
Part of what served to alleviate the impacts of the strike on customers was Bell System's decision move some of their 250,000 middle managers into the positions vacated by the strikers. During the strike, Bell System's middle management served as internal strikebreakers, operating switchboards in the place of striking workers.

### Demands

The telecommunications workers argued that they deserved as high as a 7% raise in order to reflect increased productivity and AT&T's favorable position in the market. AT&T was expecting to make $7 billion USD in profit that year. CWA president Glenn Watts said they were offered "virtually nothing" during negotiations.
Other demands included:
* Employment security
* Training and worker retention programs, particularly with respect to new communication technologies
* Improvements in workers' health and pension plans
Another significant concern for workers at the time was how AT&T's divestiture from Bell System would affect their rights as employees of AT&T, as many were slated to be moved to new companies.

### Direct action

During the strike, there were scattered reports of vandalism of telephone equipment and incidents of violence related to the strike across the United States. The unions denied responsibility for these actions.
In New Jersey, there were 25 acts of sabotage reported within the first three days of the strike. These actions resulted in phone service being cut to the New Jersey state police barracks and the major army base Fort Dix.
In Chicago, 47 acts of sabotage were reported in the first week, including a lit highway flare that was placed in a switching box, cutting phone service to the DuPage County Sheriff's Department.
In California, Pacific Telephone reported 227 incidents of sabotage over the course of the strike.
In addition to the acts of sabotage, there was some militancy among the picket lines. In Providence, Rhode Island, strikers fought with mounted police, and one fight in Brooklyn led to three arrests and three police injuries.
Lucius Cabins, writing for the Processed World Collective, argued that the acts of sabotage were a result of workers feeling excluded from negotiations, which largely occurred in private meetings between union leadership and company management. The main role of rank and file workers during the strike was to participate in picket lines. The sabotage served to keep strikebreakers in a state of crisis management.

## Outcome

The unions reached a tentative settlement on the morning of August 29, 1983. This agreement brought the 21-day strike to an end.
Both the unions and management made concessions in order to reach an agreement. The unions secured a $31 million USD fund for retraining workers whose jobs were made obsolete due to technological change in the telecommunications industry, in addition to an incentive-bonus program for early retirement. However, the telecommunications companies retained the ability to lay off workers based on market conditions, as no specific job security guarantees were made in the final contract.
Ultimately, the telecommunications workers were promised a 5.5% raise in the first year of the contract, and a 1.5% raise plus a cost of living adjustment during the second and third years.

## Effects

The 1983 AT&T strike did not obviously affect phone services for most customers because by then most calls were dialed directly. 97% of all basic phone services were completely automated.
The primary impacts of the strike were on repairs, installations, and access to operators and directory assistance.
Internally, both the re-tasking of managers as strikebreakers and the significant participation of clerical workers in the strike served to stall important processes related to AT&T's divestiture.