Around 40 local AT&T employees joined more than 20,000 of their fellow workers in a strike this week, saying that the telecommunications company isn’t bargaining in good faith over a new contract.

Chris Johnson, a local representative of the Communications Workers of America labor union, read a statement about the strike during Monday night’s meeting of the Cullman City Council.

He said the CWA has filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board against AT&T for not bargaining in good faith and not sending representatives to the bargaining table with the authority to make decisions.

The union’s members applied for a permit for three informational picketing locations in Cullman, located at 401 4th Avenue SE, 1311 Mitchell Road NW and on 3rd Street SE.

Johnson said people may have the misconception that the strike is only about making more money, but the CWA’s demand from AT&T is that the company return to the bargaining table to negotiate in good faith with the union.

“It has nothing to do with pay,” he said. 

When asked if there will be service interruptions for customers, AT&T said that it’s prepared for a strike. The workers who have walked off are technicians and customer service representatives for AT&T’s “wireline” home and business internet and phone division, not its cellphone division.

AT&T says it disagrees with the union’s claims of bad bargaining practices.

The AT&T workers are on strike in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Telecom workers periodically go on strike, including about 17,000 AT&T workers in a one-day walkout in California and Nevada in 2017 and 39,000 Verizon workers who struck for six weeks in 2016.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.