Bell Atlantic Reaches Tentative Accord With Striking Union; Differences Remain

Bell Atlantic Corp. and one of its striking unions reached tentative agreement Thursday on the framework of a new contract, but unresolved local issues and continuing differences with another union prevented an end to a 13-day strike.

The agreement between Bell Atlantic and the Communications Workers of America on broad issues was interpreted as a sign that the strike could end within days. But the company was still negotiating with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Local Issues Unresolved

A union official said the CWA workers would not return until all local issues were resolved and the IBEW reached agreement with the company. The striking workers include operators, telephone installers and repairmen, factory workers and some sales and clerical personnel.

Bell Atlantic provides local phone service in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.

Three other regional Bell companies also are being struck by the same two unions. The other companies are NYNEX, which serves the Northeast; Ameritech, which serves five Midwestern states, and Pacific Telesis, which serves California and Nevada.

All four companies have continued service using management personnel.

Talks between CWA and Pacific Telesis were held Wednesday and Thursday, but there were no reports of progress. No contract talks were scheduled at NYNEX or Ameritech.

CWA spokesman Bill Bickers said the Bell Atlantic agreement would have no direct effect on the other strikes, but “hopefully this will give some impetus to those units to reach an agreement.”

Wage Increase

The tentative CWA-Bell Atlantic agreement calls for an immediate 3% wage increase for the 41,000 CWA workers. They would receive raises of 2 1/4% in both the second and final years of the contract. The CWA workers also would receive a cost-of-living adjustment in the latter two years of the contract and a profit-sharing payment in all three years.

The major stumbling block in all of the telecommunications talks has been health care. The tentative CWA-Bell Atlantic agreement contains provisions similar to those that allowed the unions and American Telephone & Telegraph to break a bitter impasse in contract talks earlier this year.

‘Managed Care Plan’

The union agreed to a “managed care plan” designed to provide improved benefits and prevent significant increases for out-of-pocket health care expenses--provided union workers use health care providers recommended by Bell Atlantic. In theory, the company would be able to reduce its health care bill by negotiating fee rates with the providers to whom it steers the business.

But local issues remained between the company and CWA, including disputes over job-title and work-rule changes at its state subsidiaries. In 1986 it took the union and AT&T; a week to resolve local issues after reaching agreement on a national framework.