I think it's very important to note the long-term crappy treatment of AT&T employees by management - most recently illustrated by the wholesale transfer of thou

I think it's very important to note the long-term crappy treatment of AT&T employees by management - most recently illustrated by the wholesale transfer of thousands of senior IT people to IBM (an even worse employer, doubtlessly for off-the-AT&T books elimination). A good employer, and most are better than AT&T, has a certain level of loyalty as a defense. This bribe thing doesn't surprise me one tiny bit.