Update August 28: CWA president Steve Monk said the strike by AT&T workers has ended at 2 a.. after negtoatopms reached a deal. The workers will return to work at noon.More than more than 20,000 union workers for AT&T went on strike around the southeast, including the Birmingham metro area, citing unfair labor practices.The Communications Workers of America union has been negotiating with AT&T over the issues and announced its plan Friday to go on strike at midnight as talks for a new contract stalled.A statement from the CWA says, "The strike will involve over 20,000 technicians, customer service representatives and others who install, maintain and support AT&T's residential and business wireline telecommunications network in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee."The previous union agreement expired Aug. 3.AT&T issued a statement saying, “A strike is in no one’s best interest. We remain ready to sit down with union leaders to listen to their concerns and work with them on negotiating a new, improved contract for our employees. We’re surprised and disappointed that union leaders would call a strike at this point in the negotiations, particularly when we’re offering terms that would help our employees – some of whom average from $121,000 to $134,000 in total compensation – be even better off."The company added, “We have offered the union terms that are consistent with what other CWA-represented employees have approved in recent contract negotiations; the company has reached 20 fair agreements since 2017 covering more than 89,000 employees. The Southeast contract covers fewer than 8 percent of our employees."AT&T said during a strike it plans to continue working hard to serve its customers.