Sbc Is First Bell To Settle Contract

Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. reached agreement Monday with a union representing most of its employees, becoming the first of five regional Bell companies with negotiations under way to do so.

The agreement includes an 11 percent average wage increase over the three-year contract period and a reduction in employees’ health care costs, said Vic Crawley, vice president of the Communications Workers of America’s 6th District. It also includes a new security clause giving workers - if laid off - a chance to move to other subsidiaries of parent company SBC Communications Inc., Crawley said.

“It appears to be a settlement that meets all of our goals,” said CWA spokesman Jeffrey Miller.