ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 13, 1996 TAG: 9601150035
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
Ending more than five months of acrimonious talks, Bell Atlantic Corp. and the Communications Workers of America said Friday they reached a tentative agreement on a new contract.
Both sides said they would not release details of the tentative three-year pact because discussions are still going on to resolve local employment issues, including travel compensation, and grievance and arbitration procedures.
Those talks could be completed this weekend, the CWA said.
The tentative pact must be ratified by the 34,400 workers, including 6,500 in Virginia, before it can become final.
An agreement on common issues shared by union members in Bell Atlantic's operating territory - Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware and the District of Columbia - is "extremely close," according to Larry Akers, president of the CWA local in Southwest Virginia. Those issues include wages, pensions and health care.
What remains to be resolved, however, is the part of the contract dealing with state issues. In Virginia, those include improvements in the various wage differentials for Bell Atlantic workers, Akers said.
Workers in areas where the cost of living is higher get higher pay, but there has been some dispute over whether the pay rates under the last contract reflected actual differences in the cost of living among geographic areas.
Other local issues that have to be resolved include contract language and the grievance procedure, Akers said
Akers said he hasn't seen the tentative agreement on common issues in detail but is optimistic. "I'm feeling better than I was," he said.
Bell Atlantic provides local telephone services to about 12 million customers. Its workers, most of whom are represented by the CWA, have been without a contract since the old one expired Aug. 5. At the time Bell Atlantic's contract expired, five other regional Bell companies also were in, or facing, contract disputes with their unions. All of them have long since come to agreement.
CWA President Morton Bahr said in an interview that one of the factors that contributed to the breakthrough was the unprecedented involvement of top Bell Atlantic and CWA officials, including himself, in the negotiations.
He also credited a $7 million advertising and public relations campaign by the union.
Bell Atlantic officials would not comment beyond a statement announcing the tentative pact.
``This is a fair and equitable settlement that balances excellent wages and benefits and one of the best employment security packages in the business,'' Bell Atlantic Vice Chairman Lawrence Babbio said in a statement.
Peter Catucci, the CWA's chief negotiator, said in a statement that the regionwide settlement ``meets CWA's goals.''
At issue were wages, union members' access to new jobs within the company, guarantees that those new jobs would be covered by the union, the use of subcontractors, and the shifting of heath care costs.
Staff writer Greg Edwards contributed to this story.
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