AT&T;, Unions Recess Talks Without Agreement

WASHINGTON —  Negotiators for two unions and the American Telephone & Telegraph Co. recessed their talks after failing to reach agreement on a new contract before the old one expired at 11:59 p.m. EDT Saturday, after the unions agreed to continue talks rather than strike at midnight.

“There’s still quite a long way to go,” Morton Bahr, president of the Communications Workers of America, said shortly before midnight. “We have made real progress in intense negotiations . . . and they will continue at it as long as progress is being made.”

Bahr declined to specify where progress was made and where more needs to be done from the union standpoint. But assessing the gap remaining between the two sides and the time it might take to bridge it, Bahr said: “We’re talking about hours, not many days.”

The talks recessed about 1 a.m. EDT and were scheduled to resume at 10 a.m. today, said CWA spokeswoman Gaye Mack.

William Ketchum, vice president of labor relations for AT&T;, said that workers scheduled to report in the “near-term . . . should report to work unless they get other advice” from the unions.

The agreement to keep talking averted, at least temporarily, a strike by 125,000 workers seeking better pay and job protection.

Earlier in the evening, union officials had reported some progress in wage and pension discussions, but they stressed that both issues remained the main sticking points.

The contracts that were due to expire cover AT&T; employees who belong to the CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. They are long-distance operators, technicians who install communications equipment and circuits for long-distance service, and customer and account representatives.

They also include more than 30,000 people in 18 plants across the country that manufacture high-tech switching and transmission equipment, fiber-optic cable and microprocessors.

Weekly wages range from $379 to $727. The company’s original 8% wage increase over three years was upped to an undisclosed higher rate on Friday.

Technological advancements have eliminated about 133,000 union jobs since AT&T; broke up. Company officials say another 6,000 will be cut this year.