By SHALINI RAMACHANDRAN And ANTON TROIANOVSKI
As Union Contract Runs Out, Managers Learn to Climb Poles, Decode Acronyms
Michael Brouk, a business analyst at AT&T Inc., has learned a lot lately about manhole gases. Senior business manager Kathy Ohrt now knows how to unload ladders from a service truck. IT specialist Patrick Maher, in a training course on a recent Monday, was dreading the days ahead.
"This is a looong week," Mr. Maher said in a Twitter post from his class. "OMG," he tweeted minutes later, "someone just fell out of their chair asleep."
AT&T, which faces a possible strike Sunday (District 1, District 4, District 9, & Legacy AT&T) when contracts covering more than 40,000 union workers expire, says it has "a substantial work force of well-trained managers" ready to step in.
