AT&T;, Unions Make Progress; Strike Delayed

The nation’s largest long-distance telephone company and two unions made progress late Saturday toward resolving a key conflict over retirees’ health care costs, averting the threat of a midnight strike.

“Progress has been made on the retiree health care issue, and we’re hopeful we can continue to make progress,” said Anne Marklin, a spokeswoman for the Communications Workers of America. “We see no immediate threat of a strike at midnight.”

AT&T; Corp. officials praised the unions’ decision to continue talks past the midnight deadline.

“We are encouraged by the progress of these negotiations, and we are particularly encouraged by the unions’ decision to avoid a strike, as both sides had wanted,” said AT&T; spokesman Herb Linnen.

Neither side would detail the progress on the company’s original proposal to shift health costs to some retirees.

Talks were scheduled to continue through much of the night into today. “In the meantime as these negotiations continue, the existing contract we now have remains in effect,” Linnen said.

In the event of a strike, the company planned to continue its national and worldwide service uninterrupted, using managers as telephone operators, Linnen said.

The two unions, the CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, represent 101,000 of the company’s workers.