More than 70 employees at AT&T hubs in Birmingham, Huntsville and Mobile formally unionized, with a green light from their employer.

A majority of the company’s in-home experts working in Alabama signed union authorization cards over the past two weeks to join the Communications Workers of America, the D.C.-based union representative announced Tuesday. On Monday afternoon, AT&T voluntarily recognized the union, which now counts 74 of the workers.

Spokespeople for AT&T did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“We deserve respect and dignity on the job, and a union contract protects the rights of all workers,” Madison Bell, a Huntsville in home expert worker for AT&T, said in a statement released by the union. “I am joining CWA to be part of a union that will not just fight for my benefit, but for everyone’s benefit. Together, we can make this a good job that supports our families and our communities.”

Joining a union is a rare move in Alabama, where unionization consistently falls below the national average. Just 7.2% of Alabama workers are members of unions and 8.4% of workers’ roles are represented by unions, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics most recent data, from 2022.

In-home experts sell AT&T services and products to customers who get set up with the company’s Internet services in their homes.

Tim Johnson, a Hoover resident, said that he joined the union for a better work-life balance.

“Without a union contract, we could start our day with a meeting at 6:45 a.m. and still find ourselves at appointments working until 7 or 8 p.m. at night,” Johnson said in a statement released by the union.

This isn’t AT&T’s first union deal – more than half of its workforce is unionized already, the company has said. Thousands of AT&T workers in other roles at the company throughout the United States, including in the Southeast district that counts Alabama, are represented by the Communication Works of America, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.