AT&T this morning reached out to us to note that after four months of negotiations, the telecom giant has struck a tentative agreement in the company's Midwest Region with the CWA. "This agreement covers some 18,500 employees in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio," AT&T spokesman Seth Bloom tells Broadband Reports. "Negotiations are continuing is all of our other regions, for contracts cover employees in every part of the country," says Bloom. Negotiations between AT&T and its union employees had broken down back in April, with workers authorizing a strike as a last resort.

Current contracts for some 125,000 CWA-represented AT&T employees expired April 4, except for an AT&T Southeast agreement, which expires in August. Efforts to bridge the differences between the company and its workers have thus-far failed, with workers authorizing a strike but continuing to work for the time being. Negotiations between AT&T and the Communications Workers Of America took a breather over the Easter holiday, but are set to continue tomorrow. In the interim, workers are getting attention for having created a "Ready To Strike" rap ringtone.

According to the Communications Workers of America, the union has authorized a strike should contract negotiations not go their way. Current contracts for some 125,000 CWA-represented AT&T employees expire April 4, except for an AT&T Southeast agreement, which expires in August. Citing profits this year of $12.9 billion despite a sour economy, the CWA laments that there's "no reason to hurt employees by cutting jobs and benefits." AT&T and CWA-represented AT&T Mobility workers recently went through the same process.

As AT&T insiders had told us, AT&T this week began offering DirecTV service to customers out of U-Verse range across their entire 22-state footprint. New customers willing to bundle DirecTV get $5 off for the double play, $10 off for the triple play, and $10 off plus $200 cash back if they bundle phone, DirecTV, DSL and wireless phone. Existing customers can supposedly call up and get the bundle discounts (let us know how that works in the comment section below). While AT&T is still supporting Dish Network and Homezone customers, they're no longer marketing those services to new customers.

2009 will be the year of the femtocell, a tech that creates a micro cell tower in your home that improves coverage and allows you to make calls over your broadband connection (easing strain on local towers is the primary perk for AT&T). AT&T has been testing femtocells in employee homes for some time, and recently stated they'll be engaging in a broader, "city-sized test" with customers in the second quarter of 2009. Ars Technica notes that AT&T is now contacting some customers to invite them into the trials. From the e-mail:AT&T has supposedly already signed a contract with London-based ip.access for $500 million in femtocells, which rumors suggest should be sold to customers for somewhere around $100 each. Meanwhile, there's an interesting conversation in our VoIP forums about what the rise of the femtocell means for residential VoIP.