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CWA workers strike SNET
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August 24, 1998: 10:23 a.m. ET
Union walks out at Southern New England; US West strike stretches on
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - In what is shaping up as the year's overriding telecommunications theme, thousands of Southern New England Telephone workers took to the picket lines Monday, while US West declared little progress in negotiations with its striking workers.
Some 6,300 CWA members struck Southern New England Telephone (SNET) locations across Connecticut just after midnight Sunday when the current contract expired.
Union members are fighting what they call the "disparity and inequity in pay and benefits" for all of its workers, including operators, technicians, customer service representatives, engineers and clerical and administrative employees.
Health-care cost shifting also is among their concerns.
US West workers cite similar concerns.
At issue for the nearly 34,000 US West workers represented by the CWA are compensation packages, overtime, and health-care benefits.
The workers' previous contract expired at midnight Aug. 15, when the union officially struck.
Since then, operator and directory services have been handled by about 15,000 managers at US West.
Both sides, which have been unable to compromise, have accused each other of unfair labor negotiations. As a result, a federal mediator has been brought in to help resolve the strike.
US West said Saturday there has been little progress in its contract talks with the CWA, accusing union negotiators of taking talks too lightly.
But the union and US West were called back to the bargaining table Sunday afternoon by the federal mediator overseeing the case. Although the CWA wouldn't disclose details of the talks, it said the strike continues.
"We are stunned that CWA negotiators would characterize this as progress [to the media]," US West spokesman Mike Fernandez said over the weekend. "Despite our best efforts, the union has only bargained with us for a total of 65 minutes since the strike began. And they haven't offered any proposals, counterproposals or been willing to seriously discuss at all key issues -- such as wages and pensions, health care benefits, performance bonuses or even overtime."
At the request of US West, U.S. District Judge Stephen Henriod Friday issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting strikers from blocking the entrances to US West buildings or intimidating people entering or leaving them.
Shares of US West (USW) closed unchanged Friday at 51-1/16 on the New York Stock Exchange. 
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CWA
US West
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