Date: Fri 28-Aug-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

SNET-strike-business

Full Text:

SNET Workers Bring Their Cause To Queen St

(with cut)

Striking Southern New England Telecommunications employees have been seen

standing in front of the SNET building on Queen Street the past five days,

frustrated over low wages. Only in Arkansas do telephone workers earn less.

Connecticut's main telephone company and its union employees waited this week

for a federal mediator to begin the ticklish process of bringing the two sides

back to the bargaining table.

Kevin Moore, a spokesman for SNET, said the company had not heard from the

mediator Tuesday morning, but was eager to resume negotiations.

SNET's 6,300 union operators, customer service representatives and technicians

hit picket lines at 12:01 am Sunday after talks on a new contract had broken

down. No new talks were held Sunday.

The workers' complaints focus on so-called "two-tier" wages in which employees

are paid different rates and receive different benefits for the same duties.

The workers also say they are paid up to 25 percent less than employees at

other phone companies.

The employees are represented by the Connecticut Union of Telephone Workers,

an affiliate of the Communications Workers of America.

Officials at SNET, the nation's oldest local phone company, said customers

would not notice disruptions in making regular telephone calls because most of

those services are automated. However, they warned that customers could

experience delays in reaching operators, directory assistance, and customer

service.

Only essential repairs and installations of new service will be done until

after the strike, the company said.

Wearing red union T-shirts, hundreds of strikers formed picket lines at SNET

work sites in New Haven, Hartford, Norwalk and other places across the state,

including the small SNET building on Queen Street. Police did not report any

disorderly conduct.

Stratford Incident

But one picketer in Stratford suffered minor injuries when he was allegedly

hit by a car. One person was arrested but police declined to identify the

suspect or say whether the person was associated with SNET.

Mr Moore said this week that the car was being driven by a SNET manager, but

said the company had interviewed witnesses who indicated a union member

deliberately bumped the car after it had come to a stop.

"Eyewitnesses reported the car was at a standstill," Mr Moore said. He said he

did not know whether the witnesses had told the same story to police.

Most demonstrators carried signs that read, "On Strike Against SNET." In New

Haven, the picketers often cheered as passersby honked car horns in

solidarity. In Hartford, some picketers yelled, "Scab!" and "You should be

ashamed of yourself!" at SNET managers who went to work.

"We'll strike as long as it takes," said cable repairman John Miceli. "They're

treating us like they've treated us for years, not like equals."

For Miceli's family, the strike means his 9- and 13-year-old children will

have to do without for a while.

"It's tough because it's back-to-school time and they need school clothes. We

have to draw a line at some point. We're going to try to just stick to the

basics," he said. "We can get by."

Installer and repairman Tom Meehan said he will be taking his 18-month-old

daughter with him to the picket line because without work, he and his wife

cannot afford day care.

"I'd rather not be on strike," he said. "But this is about justice."

If the strike lasts more than two weeks, SNET picketers will become eligible

for $200 per week in benefits from a $170 million union relief fund.

About 3,000 managers were called to fill in for the rank-and-file workers. On

Sunday, managers were driving SNET repair trucks from the company's garages in

New Haven and Hartford.

Two Tier Nightmare

"SNET has created a nightmare of two-tier deals which are very divisive and

deeply resented," said Paul Hongo, a member of the union bargaining committee.

Additionally, the union does not want its members to have to pay for health

benefits.

On August 7, SNET and union negotiators reached a tentative agreement.

Although the deal was never put out for a vote or formally rejected, the most

vocal of the rank-and-file said they were dissatisfied.

The earlier agreement, among other things, would have provided raises of more

than 11 percent over the life of the 32-month contract and would have

increased the pension plan by nearly 12 percent.

State regulators have given preliminary approval to a merger of SNET with San

Antonio, Texas-based SBC Communications Inc.

SBC's business offices were closed Sunday, but Levy said the strike should

have no effect on the merger. SBC has promised to abide by whatever contract

SNET negotiates with the employees.

Jeffrey Kagan, an industry analyst at Kagan Telecom Associates in Woodstock,

Ga., said he did not think the strike would scuttle the merger but said it

could hurt the company's competitiveness in the long run.

"Companies are facing competition for the first time ever, so you can't look

at how profitable the company has been. It's going to be a bloody war in the

next few years," he said. "The unions have to have different expectations. It

means giving back."

SNET serves nearly all of Connecticut's three million residents, with the

exception of some parts of Greenwich.

(Reports by Associated Press writer Brigitte Greenberg were used in this

story.)