Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Lucent Technologies (LU) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: HairyWho? who wrote (2720)	5/31/1998 7:03:00 PM
From: Kent Rattey	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 21876

TRENTON, N.J. (May 31, 1998 6:08 p.m. EDT nando.net) -- Contract talks between telecommunications giant Lucent Technologies and unions representing one-third of its workforce resumed Sunday, after the unions pushed back their original strike deadline of midnight Saturday. One of the unions, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, set a new strike deadline for 6 p.m. Sunday, while the other, the Communications Workers of America, set its new deadline at midnight Sunday, the unions said. IBEW represents about 19,000 workers at Lucent manufacturing and operations facilities across the United States. CWA represents some 24,000 employees of Murray Hill-based Lucent, the telecommunications equipment company spun off from AT&T Corp. in September 1996. The company has a total of 131,000 workers worldwide. "The union workers covered by this contract do the building, installing and servicing of a lot of our telecommunications equipment, and (the contract) also covers some clerical workers," Lucent spokesman Bill Price said. IBEW spokesman Jim Spellane said the two sides bargained until after 3 a.m. Sunday morning, and negotiations for the multiyear contract resumed about noon. The talks are being held in a hotel in Washington, where both unions are based. "They're trying to see if an agreement can be reached this afternoon," Spellane said. "There was some movement last night. I would say, from the union side, not enough." "They're still apart on a number of major issues," Spellane added. He said he was unsure which issues remain sticking points, but union negotiators said Saturday that they and the company were far apart on wages, pensions and health care benefits. "We continue to be focused on bringing this to a resolution," Price said. "We continue to bargain in good faith to reach an agreement." Lucent sells services and equipment -- such as telephone transmission, routing and microelectronics products -- to regional Bell operating companies, competitive local exchange carriers, Internet and wireless service providers and long-distance carriers. The company reported first-quarter sales of $6.16 billion, up 20 percent from a year earlier, and earnings of $23 million for the quarter. "People are hostile. They cannot believe that if you work for a company that makes tremendous profits that it would ask for givebacks," Sam Martin, vice president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1974, said Saturday. Lucent counters that the company's wages and other compensation are among the best in the industry. Last year, Lucent announced plans to become a major player in data networking, and it has since acquired three companies in that business, filling in important gaps in its product line. By LINDA A. JOHNSON, AP Business Writer