SBC, union reach tentative five-year labor agreement

SBC Communications Inc. announced May 25 that it had tentatively agreed to the terms of a new five-year contract covering 100,000 SBC employees represented by the Communications Workers of America.

The SBC workers represented by CWA went on strike May 21 and returned to work May 25.

"SBC now has a labor agreement that provides us greater control over our cost structure and flexibility to meet our competitive challenges, while continuing to provide the outstanding wages and benefits that are hallmarks of this company," said SBC Chairman and CEO Edward E. Whitacre Jr. in an SBC news release.

CWA stated the agreement meets the union's major objectives of strengthening employment security, including new access to jobs in growth areas, protecting health security for both active employees and retirees, and improving wages and pensions.

Subject to member ratification, the settlement covers workers in Connecticut, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Texas, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, California and Nevada.

Key elements of the agreement included:

Wages The parties agreed to across-the-board base wage increases totaling 12 percent, compounded, plus an additional 1 percent lump sum in the first year and cost-of-living adjustments in the fourth and fifth years, CWA stated. The initial wage increase is retroactive to April 4.

Health care SBC will continue to pay for health benefits and employees will not have to make monthly contributions, but co-payments for drugs, doctor visits, emergency room services and other charges will increase for most plan participants, SBC officials stated.

To help offset these higher costs, active employees will receive cash bonuses of $1,000 and retirees, who are now under a different plan from active workers, will receive $2,500, according to CWA officials.

Job security The company and the union agreed to provide current CWA-represented employees with guaranteed job offers should their existing jobs be surplused. Also, CWA noted that the agreement calls for the rehiring of 100 employees laid off at SBC Southwest and SBC Midwest, formerly known as Southwestern Bell and Ameritech.

Jobs of the future The agreement gives union workers access to the jobs of the future at SBC in areas such as Fiber to the Premise, Voice over Internet Protocol, Wireless Internet, video services and business data services. CWA and SBC also agreed to work together to bring back tech support jobs from overseas when the current outsourcing agreement with Accenture expires.

"This agreement helps ensure that American workers and their communities benefit from the promise of new information technology jobs," said CWA President Morton Bahr, in a CWA news release.