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A tentative agreement between AT&T and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) has ended a month-long strike for one of Lowndes County’s internet and cellular service providers.

The union announced it had reached what it called a “strong tentative” agreement with AT&T Southeast and AT&T West for new contracts; each were bargained separately.

The southeast strike was the longest in the region’s history, spanning across nine states, including Alabama and impacting customers in Lowndes and Butler counties. The agreement called for workers to return to scheduled shifts on Monday, Sept. 16.

Richard Honeycutt, CWA District 3 vice president, said workers were happy to get back to the work of service communities.

“We are incredibly proud of our members and thank CWA members, retirees and allies across the country for the solidarity that has sustained us through these difficult negotiations,” Honeycutt said in a media release. “Their willingness to make sacrifices in order to win major improvements in their contract not just for themselves, but for future members is truly inspiring.  

“We know that our customers have faced hardship during the strike as well. We are happy to be getting back to work keeping our communities safe and connected.”

The strike began with workers in AT&T’s Southeast region and threatened to diminish the provider’s capacity to handle outages and repairs as the region faced multiple hurricane threats. Managers from AT&T’s West region were called in to cover service calls, and according to a Sept. 9 CWA media release, contributed to the decision for workers to strike in the west as well.

During the strike, AT&T representatives said they did not know of any service or repair interruptions caused by the strike. Union workers pulled out of mediator talks early in September and AT&T issued this statement following the decision.

“The Communications Workers of America (CWA) District 3 has decided it no longer wants to involve a skilled federal mediator to assist in negotiations,” said an AT&T spokesperson. “This decision was unexpected, since withdrawing from mediation seems inconsistent with the union’s allegation of unfair labor practices.   

“We thank the mediator for their efforts throughout this process. Regardless of whether a neutral third-party is present, progress will not be made without a willingness to compromise. 

“As we have said from day 1, we are focused on reaching a fair and competitive agreement that benefits our hard-working employees as quickly as possible, and this won’t change. In the meantime, we will remain prepared for all contingencies to ensure our customers receive the excellent service they deserve.”

The new contract covers 17,000 employees who work as technicians, customer service representatives, installers and maintenance personnel for residential and business wireline telecommunications networks. Negotiations included healthcare costs and the five-year agreement brings wage increases of 19.33% plus 3% for wire technicians and utility operators.