News

CWA members at two more major telecommunications companies - BellSouth and US West - have now ratified contracts, wrapping up 1998's largest set of negotiations.

CWA has reached agreement with GTE of the Northwest on a new three-year contract covering about 400 members in Washington and Oregon and is bargaining hard with the Alltel Corp. on contracts covering another 1,200 members, according to CWA Telecommunications Vice President T.O. Moses.

President Morton Bahr announced at a CWA executive board meeting in mid-October that the office of the executive vice president will become a "center for worksite campaigns."

CWA urged the Federal Communi-cations Commission to approve the SBC Communications-Ameritech merger, noting that the partnership will foster competition in 30 new markets outside the companies' service regions and create at least 8,000 high-quality jobs.

OCTOBER 22 - Two of the most brutal weather events ever have hit CWA territory. Hurricane Georges in late September killed more than 370 people in the Caribbean before punishing southern states along the Gulf Coast.