The State - News from April 3, 1986

By a margin of 3 to 1, members of the Communications Workers of America have voted to authorize a strike against General Telephone Co. of California if talks on a new contract break off, said William Demers, the 18,000-member union’s regional vice president. “We haven’t broken off talks with the company,” Demers said. “We’re still meeting and we hope to avert a strike.” Negotiations between the company and the union, which began two months ago, have snagged on GTE proposals to increase insurance deductibles for workers and to create a two-tier wage system, which would mean lower salaries for workers hired after June, Demers said. The current work agreement between the two expired March 5. GTE serves 2.5 million customers, most of them in Southern California.