WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The union representing 100,000 SBC Communications Inc. (SBC.N) workers in 13 states launched a four-day strike on Friday, after talks for a new contract ground to a halt over health care and job security.þþThe union said it was limiting its strike to minimize the financial damage to the second largest U.S. local phone company, while leaving open the possibility of further action. SBC said it would withdraw its current offers if the union did not accept them by midnight Monday.þþNegotiations for a new five-year contract between SBC and the Communications Workers of America stopped on Wednesday, as the two sides could not reach agreements on health care, job security, wages and pensions.þþThe union members who walked off the job on Friday ranged from construction workers to customer service operators in 13 states from Connecticut to California. Previous strikes at other phone companies have not affected basic calling, but have slowed responses to service requests for new installations or repairs.þþThe San Antonio, Texas, company said its communications network is functioning well, adding that management employees and retirees were helping to maintain operations.þþ``We think 99.9 percent of our customers will not notice a thing,'' SBC spokesman Walt Sharp said. ``We're going to take every step we can to immunize customers from the effect of a work stoppage.''þþSBC says the talks must produce some cost cuts that will help it fight new competitors, including non-union cable companies planning to jump into phone services.þþThe company's ``need to be cost competitive long-term is making SBC management much less flexible in this negotiation than it has been historically,'' said Goldman Sachs analyst Frank Governali.þþThe CWA contends its members should not have to shoulder a much larger share of costs, especially for health insurance, in light of SBC's $8 billion profit last year.þþThe SBC talks are the latest in a string of negotiations between unions and companies that have been complicated by rising health-care costs. SBC says its workers contribute less than 10 percent of their health-care costs, well below the U.S. average.þþSBC has sought ways to cap health-care costs it says have risen more than 10 percent a year since 1999, hitting $3 billion last year. It has proposed an increase in co-payments it estimates would average about $35 a month, as well as increased costs for retirees. The union has rejected both.þþJob security has been another major fault line in the talks. Like other large phone companies, SBC has shed thousands of jobs in recent years as it lost customers to wireless phones. The CWA contends it lost 29,000 jobs over the past three years and wants SBC to guarantee its workers access to employment in parts of the company that are still growing, such as its high-speed Internet service.þþSBC has offered to give any CWA worker targeted for layoff another job in the same state. But the CWA says SBC wants to make its offer non-negotiable, so if an employee turns down a new job offer, SBC will consider it a resignation.þþIn addition to the four-day strike, the union is asking SBC customers to pledge to switch their local phone service to AT&T Corp. (T.N) if the union asks them to do so. þþþþ
Source: NY Times
