5 ‘Baby Bell’ Firms Face Strikes; BellSouth Enters Tentative Pact

BellSouth Corp. reached a tentative contract agreement with the Communications Workers of America union Friday, but five other Bell telephone companies prepared for possible strikes as talks headed toward a deadline of midnight tonight.

The so-called Baby Bells serve about 80% of the nation’s telephones, but analysts said consumers would not be affected much by strikes because the phone network is highly automated and managers can fill critical jobs.

BellSouth, headquartered in Atlanta, became the second of seven Bell phone companies to reach a tentative settlement with the union. Pacific Telesis, based in San Francisco, announced a tentative pact Monday.

Remote Prospects

A union spokeswoman said prospects for settlements are more remote at the other companies in negotiations: Chicago-based Ameritech, Denver-based US West Inc., St. Louis-based Southwestern Bell Corp., Philadelphia-based Bell Atlantic Corp. and New York-based Nynex Corp.

“Things look very grim,” spokeswoman Francine Zucker said in Washington. “The offers that we’re getting are totally unacceptable.”

BellSouth’s contract provides for an immediate wage increase of 2% and increases of 1.5% each of the next two years. In addition, there would be annual cash payments based on the company’s earnings that would raise total worker compensation about 10% over three years, the company said.

Has Sept. 12 Deadline

The contract, which must be ratified by Sept. 12, also includes job security and retraining provisions and some improvements in the health plan.

The five Bell companies that have not reached contract agreements employ about 200,000 union members. BellSouth has about 65,000 union-represented workers and Pacific Telesis has about 44,000.

The union members are employed as operators, installers and maintenance and clerical workers.