A union representing ATT workers says about 17,000 employees in California and Nevada have gone on strike over a change in some of their job duties.
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The Communications Workers of America said they went on strike Wednesday morning. The union plans to file an unfair labor charge with the National Labor Relations Board.
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The workers install cable and phone service and work in call centers where customers can phone in with questions and problems.
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ATT is asking technicians who install cable to also work outside maintaining phone and cable wires, which is a higher-paid job, said Sheila Bordeaux, who works in an ATT call center and is an executive board member of the union local that covers Los Angeles and surrounding areas.
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She said workers will strike until the issue is resolved.
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ATT spokesman Marty Richter said ATT is talking with the union to try to get employees back to work.
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ATT and the union are also negotiating a new contract for the workers, whose contract expired almost a year ago.
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Long-lasting strikes can have financial repercussions on companies. Last year, nearly 40,000 Verizon workers went on strike for seven weeks on the East Coast in a fight over a new contract. That led to delays in installations of Verizon’s Fios cable service and dinged the company’s profits for the April-June period. Verizon agreed to add new call center jobs and promised raises but also adopted some cheaper health insurance plans.