AT&T announced On Wednesday, it announced it has expanded its coronavirus vaccine requirement to tens of thousands of employees of the Communications Workers of America union.
The company said unionized workers entering workplaces and client or client sites, or temporarily working from home, must be fully vaccinated by February 1 unless they are eligible for accommodation. AT&T did not elaborate on the exemptions.
The company had previously requested that most executives be vaccinated by October 11.
AT&T negotiated the new policy with the communications workers union this month. A union official who was not authorized to discuss the details said the company made a number of concessions, including delaying the vaccination date and giving unvaccinated employees a free re-evaluation period. But the union official said the two sides later got into a stalemate and the company imposed the policy on its own.
The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the bargain.
AT&T had approximately 230,000 employees as of January 31. latest annual reportAbout 37 percent of them are unionized. It operates the only major wireless carrier that is heavily syndicated. The vast majority of unionized workers are represented by the communication workers union.