Bell Atlantic strike is over
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August 11, 1998: 1:33 p.m. ET
Phone company and CWA agree on two-year contract; wages, pensions to rise
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Some 73,000 Bell Atlantic workers put down their picket signs and headed back to the office Tuesday after the union representing telephone workers reached a contract settlement that company management termed "fair" to all involved.
The Communications Workers of America union said Tuesday it tentatively agreed to a two-year contract under which wages will increase by up to 3.8 percent effective Aug. 9, 1998, and up to 4 percent, effective Aug. 8, 1999.
Pension increases will range from 11 percent to 20 percent.
The contract also calls for the transfer of certain customer service jobs from contracted workers to union workers -- a key concern among union members.
"This settlement meets our goals: It's fair to employees, fair to customers, fair to the company, and in line with other recent settlements in our industry," said Donald J. Sacco, Bell Atlantic's executive vice president of human resources. "I'm grateful to both of our negotiating teams and to Morty Bahr, CWA president, for the leadership they demonstrated in reaching consensus on a variety of issues to put an end to this strike."
The union will submit the agreements to its members to be ratified within the next 30 days.
Bell Atlantic had no information immediately available on the cost of the new contract deal to the company's bottom line, nor on the cost of the strike.
"Obviously we are very pleased," Sacco noted. "Both sides bargained hard and in good faith."
Bell Atlantic sang a different tune on Sunday, when management released a statement calling the strike "absolutely unnecessary."
A key issue in the strike was charges by the CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers that Bell Atlantic was handing over the growing number of Internet-related jobs to non-union workers.
Bell Atlantic workers from Virginia to Maine went on strike Sunday morning after negotiations stalled and time ran out on the union's contract.
Outsourcing at issue
The two sides disagreed on a host of issues. One of the key sticking points was the union's contention that the company threatened the security of union jobs through the use of temporary workers and outsourcing.
The union also charged the company denied union members access to new high-paying, high-skill jobs at the company's non-union subsidiaries.
The strike came about two weeks after Bell Atlantic announced it would merge with GTE Corp. in an all-stock deal valued at $52.8 billion. The combined company will bring together Bell Atlantic's local and wireless phone service with GTE's (GTE) local, long-distance, wireless and Internet businesses.
Since the announcement, both companies have suffered a modest drop in their stock prices.
Bell Atlantic (BEL) shares were up 1/2 to 41-11/16 at midday on the New York Stock Exchange.
Click here to see a chart of the company's stock activity.
Although Bell Atlantic denies the strike caused service disruptions, there have been reports of directory assistance and customer service delays throughout the Bell Atlantic network.
Other labor questions
Bell Atlantic hasn't been alone in its unsettled labor situation.
The three-year contracts of most local telephone companies are set to expire this summer.
Ameritech, SBC Communications and BellSouth all have reached contract agreements with their union workers in recent weeks. And Baby Bell sibling US West still is locked in negotiations with its 34,600 union workers.
US West union members authorized a strike in a vote last week, clearing a path to the picket lines if the contract is not rewritten by Saturday.
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