Lucent, Unions Continue Contract Talks Past Deadline, Strike Looms Tonight If No Agreement Reached T

Bargaining talks between Lucent Technologies and two unions representing 44,000 workers at the company continued past last night's midnight contract expiration deadline. But officials of the Communications Workers of America and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers expressed their continued frustration at management's intransigence on major issues and were set to strike if no progress was made in today's talks scheduled to begin at noon, EDT.

The IBEW has set a strike deadline of 6 p.m., EDT, Sunday, May 31, for its19,000 members at Lucent manufacturing and operations facilities across the United States. CWA, which represents some 25,000 Lucent employees, has set a strike deadline six hours later, at midnight, EDT.

Though some progress was made in talks that ran from late Saturday night into early Sunday morning, significant differences remained on key issues.

Lucent Technologies comprises what was formerly AT&T's manufacturing, installation and Bell Laboratories operations. Since being spun off from AT&T in 1996, Lucent has been one of the hottest companies in telecommunications, posting an increase in stock value of more than 400 percent.