Major Issues Unresolved in BellSouth Talks

Contract talks were headed down to the wire at BellSouth as the CWA News went to press, with major issues unresolved less than a week before the Aug. 4 contract expiration, CWA District 3 Vice President Jimmy Smith said.

CWA members overwhelmingly voted to give union leaders the authority to call a strike at BellSouth with 96 percent of voting members approving the action.

CWA bargainers were resisting management demands for health care cost-shifting and other givebacks, said Noah Savant, assistant to the vice president and chair of the bargaining team. Just days before the end of the contract, BellSouth had yet to respond to many of CWA’s bargaining issues.

Throughout the district CWA members have been showing their support for the bargaining committee and letting BellSouth know that CWA members “stand as one in 2001.” CWA represents 56,000 BellSouth workers.

Key issues include:

Resolution of such workplace problems as excessive forced overtime.

Reducing job stress in call centers.

Opportunity for members to move into the new jobs and growth areas of the company.

A wage increase that reflects the profitability and success of BellSouth.

Fair administration of the short-term disability program.

Improvements in retirement security.Smith and the bargaining team outlined the union’s key principles for the negotiations at the opening session of bargaining, stressing that CWA members want to make BellSouth a number-one company, but that means workers need to be number one as well. “We will not be second-rate in wages, benefits or employee treatment,” Smith said.

BellSouth provides 24 million customers in the Southeast with local phone service, and is expanding its wireless, Internet, data and international operations. The company owns 40 percent of Cingular Wireless.

Including income from Cingular, BellSouth posted revenues of $7.4 billion for the second quarter of 2001, up 8.9 percent over the same period last year.