The Communications Workers of America and SBC Communications began early negotiations this month with the hope of reaching a new labor agreement covering 126,000 workers before Christmas, but the parties announced today that they have recessed the talks until next year.

"We regret that we didn't meet our self-imposed deadline, but we did make substantial progress in several key areas, and that should put us ahead of the game when we resume the talks later on," said CWA President Morton Bahr.

Contracts expire on or around April 1, 2001 for SBC-owned Southwestern Bell, Pacific Bell/Nevada Bell, Ameritech and Southern New England Telephone.

Informal discussions will continue between union and company negotiators, Bahr said, and formal talks can be reopened at any time. "We still have a long way to go, but there is no reason that we can't get back together and reach a settlement well before contract expiration," he noted.

Meanwhile, negotiations are continuing between CWA and Cingular Wireless, which is 60 percent owned by SBC and 40 percent owned by Bell South, and progress is being made in those talks, reported CWA's chief negotiator, Executive Vice President Larry Cohen.

Altogether, CWA bargains for 740,000 workers in telecommunications, information technology, broadcasting, publishing, journalism, manufacturing, airlines and other fields.

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