AT&T promised to create thousands of new jobs as President Donald Trump's tax legislation moved through Congress in 2017--but the telecom giant has done precisely the opposite since the bill became law, while raking in over $20 billion in extra profits.
That's according to an analysis published Monday by the Communications Workers of America (CWA), which found that AT&T has slashed 23,328 jobs since Congress passed Trump's tax bill in 2017, including nearly 6,000 in the first quarter of 2019 alone.
Meanwhile, according to CWA, AT&T has reaped $21 billion in tax cuts thanks to the Republican law, with $3 billion in annual savings expected in the future.
"What AT&T is doing to hardworking people across America is disgraceful," CWA president Chris Shelton said in a statement. "Taxpayers aren't going to let AT&T get away with receiving over $21 billion in tax cuts and then destroying the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people."
Shelton demanded a congressional investigation into AT&T's broken promises.
"Congress needs to investigate AT&T to find out how it is using its tax windfall since the company's own publicly available data already raise serious alarm bells," Shelton said. "AT&T got its tax cut. Where are the jobs?"
While slashing jobs, the CWA analysis found, AT&T hiked executive pay and cut capital investments by over a billion dollars--contrary to the promises of CEO Randall Stephenson.
AT&T also "paid no cash income taxes in 2018," CWA said, citing the company's annual report to investors.
"AT&T lobbied for the tax bill and said it would use its resulting increased profits to create more good middle-class jobs and raise wages, but the company continues to eliminate jobs, devastating workers throughout the country," said CWA. "Last week, AT&T announced it is laying off an additional 368 technicians represented by CWA in California."
