From WRIL -
If you need customer service from AT&T the wait will be longer than usual for tech support after workers strike due to contract negotiations. Most of those striking are installation and repair technicians for U-Verse who also handle fiber lines.
The CWA (Communications Workers of America) union has filed an unfair labor practice charge. They claim that AT&T didn’t come prepared to make any decisions during negotiations for securing a new contract.
The strike won't affect AT&T cellphone service, but could affect U-verse cable service.
Locally, workers in Middlesboro are set up in front of the 19th street facility, in Harlan they made camp near Highway 3452.
In a statement, AT&T said negotiators "remain ready to sit down with union leaders to negotiate a new, improved contract for our employees."
WRIL has been told that at the heart of the strike is the issue of AT&T trying to surplus the lineman to different states and get rid of each AT&T shop in at least one area from each state, no surplus no job.
According to the CWA, the strike involves over 20,000 workers in the Carolinas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky and Louisiana.