CABL Forum - Re: Sbc

Some 2,500 SBC Communications Inc. employees in Oklahoma walked off the job early Friday in a four-day strike over the company's offer for a new contract.
Union members were picketing at 11 locations in Oklahoma City and in nearby Norman, Edmond and Yukon. The strike began at 12:01 a.m. Friday and was to last until 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.
They were among 100,000 SBC workers in 13 states who were participating in the strike.
"We've given the company ample opportunity to come to a reasonable settlement,'' said Barry Gardner, president of Communications Workers of America Local 6016 in Oklahoma City.
But turning the tables on the union, the company notified its leadership Thursday night that it would drop its most recent proposal and start from scratch unless the union accepts it by 11:59 p.m. Monday -- two minutes before strike is scheduled to end.
"There's been three months' negotiation. There've been six proposals. And the company's position is that the current proposal that's in front of the union is a fair plan, is a very good plan,'' said Mike Marker, an SBC spokesman based in Indiana.
The union, in a statement on its Web site, said the tactic by SBC wouldn't work and the rank-and-file remains united and determined to win contract improvements.
At issue are wages, health care costs and job security.
SBC's five-year contract proposal offers a one-time, 4 percent lump-sum payment in the first year; 2.5 percent base-wage hikes in the second and third years, and a 2.25 percent base-wage increase and cost-of-living adjustments in the fourth and fifth years.
SBC's union workers do not pay health care premiums but the company wants to boost co-pays. CWA spokeswoman Candice Johnson said the company's proposal would double the average worker's monthly health care expense to about $70.
Karen Matthews, a 23-year employee of SBC walked the picket line Friday morning outside company offices in downtown Oklahoma City.
"I am an aging adult and as I get older I have to go to the doctor more often,'' said Matthews, 46. "For me, it means I'm having to pay a higher co-pay every time I go to the doctor.''
Terry Thornton, who has worked as a communications consultant for the company for 23 years:
"They're shifting the cost of the medical benefits to us, and we're getting very little in terms of increased wages. It's definitely not enough to offset the difference.''
SBC's Oklahoma spokesman Andy Morgan said the company's workers are well paid.
"They are among the best paid in the industry and make about 50 percent more than what cable companies pay for similar job titles,'' Morgan said.
He said the average SBC service representative who fields customer requests for new or additional services now makes $46,500 a year. Service technicians make $56,000 a year. These figures do not include overtime.
Morgan said the company was disappointed about the work stoppage but believes it has an attractive offer on the table.
"The reason we did it this way is because we're aware of the impact on customers,'' Gardner said. "Consumers in Oklahoma are our friends and family and we don't want to see the company adversely impacted because in reality, if they fail, we fail.''
Gardner said union workers hope consumers will help put pressure on the company to come up with a better offer.
SBC, the second-largest of the four "Baby Bell'' local-phone providers and by far the most profitable in 2003, said about 40,000 managers, contract workers and retirees will cover key tasks during the strike.
The company said consumers would see no immediate effect of the strike, but there were at least some problems with directory assistance.
A call placed to directory assistance by a reporter in Oklahoma City was answered with a recording:
"Due to extremely heavy calling, all of our operators are busy. If your call is an emergency please hang up and dial O and an operator will assist you.''

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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Re: Sbc