PacTel, Unions Agree on Terms of 3-Year Pact

Pacific Telesis, whose Pacific Bell and Nevada Bell phone companies serve 22 million customers in California and Nevada, has reached tentative contract settlements with its labor unions, the two sides announced Wednesday.

The proposed settlement calls for a 12% wage increase over three years, a 13% hike in pension benefits and a wage bonus of 5% if the company meets its financial goals. It was signed late Tuesday after days of intense negotiations with the Communications Workers of America and two other unions.

“These weren’t easy negotiations, but they have resulted in a contract which is fair to employees, customers and shareholders,” said Mike Rodriguez, Pacific Telesis’ chief negotiator.

Ratification of the Pacific Telesis contract, which covers 38,500 operators, cable installers, switching equipment operators and Yellow Page advertising sales people, is expected in mid-September.

As many of the nation’s phone companies continue to slash jobs, the top priorities for Pacific Telesis employees were job security issues. The contract with Pacific Telesis calls for the company to pay as much as $9 million during the next three years for an employee training program, administered jointly by the union and company, to help workers increase their skills. Workers may receive tuition and low-interest loans for other educational expenses.

The contract also allows retiring employees to chose between receiving a monthly pension check or a one-time cash payment.

Pacific Telesis stock closed Wednesday at $43.625, down 12.5 cents on the New York Stock Exchange.

Pacific Telesis is the fourth regional Bell telephone company to settle with its labor unions to replace contracts that expired Aug. 8. Since last week, Ameritech, BellSouth and Southwestern Bell, with more than 137,900 CWA union members collectively, have reached agreements.

Contract negotiations are continuing at Bell Atlantic and US West. The seventh of the Baby Bells, NYNEX, which serves New York and New England, is operating under an agreement in effect until 1995.

A strike deadline of midnight Tuesday at Philadelphia-based Bell Atlantic was extended, averting a walkout against the company that serves Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia and Washington. “Some progress was made, but we’re still far apart on a number of issues,” Bell Atlantic spokesman Ken Pitt said.