SBC Strike Enters Final Day

SBC spokeswoman Carey Brock confirmed Sunday that negotiations are underway but said "progress has been made, tough issues still remain." She pointed out that SBC received an influx of calls from people who are interested in applying for work and in what "SBC has to offer."

Brock also said that investigators are still looking for the vandals who cut phone lines Saturday, disrupting service to about 1,200 SBC customers. The company is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the culprits, Brock said, adding that SBC is not "pointing any fingers" at the strikers.

Union officials have denied any involvement in the sabotage.

"We're working with the company to find out who did that," CWA Local 9415 spokeswoman Laura Reynolds said. "As you may or may not know, cables being cut are an everyday occurrence. I mean, that's what our guys do, repair those things every single day."

Workers planned to line up again this morning at all SBC locations and at the end of the day, plan to celebrate their progress at a party at the district headquarters on Webster Street in Oakland.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Negotiators for SBC Communications Inc. and the union representing 100,000 employees worked into the early morning hours on Monday, as the union's four-day strike neared its scheduled end.
SBC, the No. 2 U.S. local phone company, said the strike by some 60 percent of its work force had not affected its network. SBC also said it had called in extra workers in three Midwestern states where weekend storms had caused outages.

The Communications Workers of America, which has not called a strike against SBC since 1983, said the two sides had resumed talks at four regional meetings on Friday, after national talks over health care, job security, wages and pensions ground to a halt last week.

SBC says the talks must produce some cost cuts that will help it fight new competitors, including nonunion cable companies planning to jump into phone services.

The union said it was limiting its strike to four days, ending at midnight Monday, to minimize the financial damage to SBC while leaving open the possibility of further action, such as calling for SBC customers to switch service to AT&T Corp. SBC said it would withdraw its current offers if the union did not accept them by the midnight deadline.

The health-care dispute between the two sides centers on how much workers should contribute to the rising cost of coverage. The parties also have been at odds over job security, with the union calling for stronger provisions than the company has offered so far.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=businessNews&storyID=5237760

SBC negotiations still at an impasse
Talks between telecommunications giant SBC Communications Inc. and the Communications Workers of America continued through the weekend without a formal agreement in place as of Monday morning. Workers in the East Bay and other locations remain on a four-day strike that began Friday.

Some 100,000 union workers at SBC are in the final day of their strike throughout the company's 13-state territory. As of late Sunday night, the company and negotiators for the union had continued to meet. SBC officials indicated some progress is being made on key issues; however, several difficult issues remain.

SBC employees have been on strike since 12:01 a.m. Friday. The four-day strike is set to end at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. Last week, SBC chief executive Ed Whitacre offered the union a five-year contract, which he said he would withdraw at 11:59 p.m. Monday if the union does not accept it "as is."

Negotiations are being conducted by regional groups in Pleasanton as well as Chicago; New Haven, Conn.; and Austin, Texas.

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