HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — DirecTV workers in West Virginia and surrounding states have given their union leaders the authority to call a strike against the company if contract negotiations fail to produce a new contract.
The workers are represented by the Communication Workers of America.
The nearly 300 workers, who are customer call center employees, work in West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Minnesota and Colorado.
The CWA said in a Wednesday news release that the workers current contract expired on Feb. 14. The rank-and-file rejected a tentative agreement on March 27.
“We are the workers DirecTV customers contact when they have problems using the service,” said Dallas Morgan, a Customer Service Representative at DirecTV and member of Huntington-based CWA Local 2009. “The results of the strike authorization vote send a clear message to DirecTV that if the company values the work we provide to the company, they would get serious about negotiating a contract that allows us to take more than a ten-second break in between calls and secures wages that reflect the real cost of living.”
Union workers cite three top priorities including higher wages, lower health care costs and fair working conditions.
The CWA said the workers also want the ability to take their hard-earned days off and take reasonable breaks between calls.