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Verizon talks are 'hopeful'
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August 18, 2000: 6:55 p.m. ET
Negotiators remain at table past midnight deadline as progress made
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Union negotiators said Friday they believed an agreement to end a 13-day strike against Verizon Communications is much closer than in the last few days, but that several details still must be worked out.
Negotiators representing more than 85,000 striking members of the Communication Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers did not walk away from the table as they threatened to do midnight ET Thursday, because substantial progress had been made.
Negotiators for the nation's largest local phone company and the unions were still talking late on Friday, Verizon officials said. Earlier, union representatives suggested the tenor of the discussion was more positive than not.
"The sense that an agreement is within reach certainly is stronger than it has been in the last few days," said Jim Spellane, a spokesman for the IBEW, which represents about 13,000 striking employees. "We have not set any new deadline. We feel that a good faith effort is being made, and we're hopeful this could be the day we reach an agreement."
 A Friday statement from the CWA, which represents about 72,000 striking employees, said "substantial progress" has been reported, but that "several important issues still remain to be worked out."
Meanwhile, Verizon Spokesman Eric Rabe on Friday declined to characterize the negotiations other than to say talks were still going on.
"We have been talking with the unions since late yesterday afternoon," Rabe said, "non-stop intense talks with all sides fully engaged. It remains impossible not predict when these talks will end in a contract and get people back to their jobs."
Verizon officials put forth a new proposal package late Thursday, Spellane said.
The strike affects directory assistance, service and repairs in Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C.
Rabe said Friday that the company had a backlog of about 100,000 repair orders, more than normal for this time of year, mainly because of bad weather that has disrupted service in the Northeast. In addition, the 30,000 managers who have taken the place of striking workers have continued to clear 25,000-to-30,000 repair orders a day.
Rabe said 3,684 striking workers picketed outside 466 Verizon offices from Maine to the Virginias Friday, and that incidents of vandalism remained relatively flat at 184.
The company has asked customers seeking new phone service to hold off until the strike is settled. But Rabe said the company has a backlog of new service requests in the tens of thousands, being the strike comes in the midst of its busy season. Summer is typically when most people move and call for phone service in their new residences, Rabe said.
Deal seen on representing wireless employees
Both the company and Spellane said the basics of an agreement on unionizing the company's wireless employees had been reached, but that several details still had to be worked out and that it was not a done deal. The unions are seeking an easier process to organize that nonunion segment of the company.
The unions' desire to represent employees in the growing wireless segment of the company is one of the key issues, along with overtime and working conditions.
Verizon was formed June 30 through the merger of Bell Atlantic Corp. and GTE Corp., and is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the United States, with about 27 million customers.
Rabe said Thursday the company tries to schedule overtime so employees know when they'll have to work ahead of time, noting that most of the overtime is done by employees who volunteer to work the extra hours.
Union officials argue that that the company has been too liberal in applying its mandatory overtime rule, forcing many call center employees to work 50- to 60-hour weeks.
Analysts said the strike is not likely to reduce company profit because most service continues uninterrupted. But the strike comes at a time when the company is trying to craft a public image as a new technology-driven company after the merger.
"Now they're being ... associated with the 'old economy' aspect of their business -- a unionized work force," said Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette analyst Richard Klugman.
Shares of Verizon (VZ: Research, Estimates) recovered somewhat Friday. The stock was up 1-9/16 to 42-5/16 in afternoon trading Friday. 
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