ALCATEL AND UNION TALK LATE INTO NIGHT

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, February 8, 1993                   TAG: 9302080125
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By GEORGE KEGLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
ALCATEL AND UNION TALK LATE INTO NIGHT
Company and union negotiators worked late Sunday night trying to find agreement on terms for a contract renewal at Alcatel Telecommunications Cable in Roanoke County.
Members of Local 164, International Union of Electronic Workers, waited in Salem to vote on a company offer while bargaining was under way at a Troutville motel.
The three-year contract, covering 136 hourly workers at the optical-fiber plant, expired at midnight.
Company reluctance to guarantee job security held up the negotiations, according to Frank Rothweiler, head of the IUE negotiating team.
Union workers fear the company will transfer their jobs to a new Hickory, N.C., plant and they are asking for a five-year job-security guarantee, Rothweiler said.
David Biggs, union vice president, said the union members were prepared to strike at midnight if they did not receive an acceptable offer. He said they did not want to strike, but would if necessary.
About 9 p.m., Biggs said agreement had been reached on a few issues, but bargaining continued.
The company said flexible work schedules and plant teams were its main issues in the bargaining.
The company asked for a five-year contract to replace the expiring pact, Rothweiler said.
The union three years ago ratified a contract that brought an 11.3 percent pay increase. Wages and benefits were on the bargaining table for the new contract.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB