The holiday season is supposed to be a time when people are nicer—or perhaps that’s just what I’ve learned from watching too many corny Hallmark holiday movies. The leadership over at AT&T must have missed the memo because their behavior this month has been the opposite of “the holiday season.”
Truthfulness and transparency are two basic tenets of being a nice, decent person, but AT&T wants nothing to do with that in 2017. It’s Trump’s America, after all! On Wednesday, AT&T tooted its own horn, saying it’s giving bonuses to a big chunk of employees—thanks to the passage of the #GOPTaxScam, which included tax breaks for giant corporations like theirs.
But that’s not exactly true. AT&T has been caught in a lie designed to kiss the golf-cart-loving backside of our “president.” The bonus-receiving employees actually have those great unions to thank for their end-of-year wallet boost.
It turns out it wasn’t the giant scam that caused AT&T to suddenly write extra checks. It was a union—Communications Works of America—who made it possible.
Why would AT&T lie about something that could be easily debunked? Some suspect it’s to curry favor with our narcissistic president who is far too easily swayed by praise, according to The Daily Beast.
The bonuses might buy more goodwill with the Trump administration. AT&T is currently attempting a merger with Time Warner, but faces opposition from Trump’s Justice Department. In November, the DOJ filed an antitrust lawsuit to block the merger. The week before the suit, Politico reported that the DOJ had threatened to block the merger if Time Warner did not sell CNN, a news network Trump frequently decries as “fake.” After AT&T’s Wednesday bonus announcement, Trump praised the telecom giant.
It’s also a nice distraction from the fact that AT&T is laying off hundreds of employees across the country as FOX4KC points out.
On Thursday, leaders of the Local 6360 Union held a meeting to offer help and share resources with workers who have been laid off. The meeting falls on the same night AT&T announced $1,000 bonuses for more than 200,000 U.S. employees in response to the GOP Tax Plan passing. Those recently notified of these job cuts say the bonuses seem like a slap in the face.
“How can you lay people off and then give them $1,000 and say that there’s going to be more jobs available? I wish someone could tell me how that’s possible because I have to explain that to my members, and right now at this time of year, this is a difficult pill to swallow,” said Joseph Blanco, president of Local 6360 Communication Workers of America Union.
“It makes no sense. It creates a lot of tension and, quite frankly, a lot of our members are on edge because they don’t understand the direction of this company and its mentality of how they’re being treated,” he said.
Blanco is right. It doesn’t make sense. Unfortunately, Trump and the rest of the GOP has normalized this type of doublespeak to line their pockets while wrecking mental and financial havoc on regular Americans.