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Monday, Aug. 17, 1998
34,000 U S West workers go on strike
By STEVEN K. PAULSON
Associated PressDENVER - Angry over proposals calling for forced overtime and salary changes to reward performance, 34,000 union workers in all but one of the 14 states in U S West's coverage area went on strike Sunday against the regional telephone company.
A U S West spokesman said company officials sent out 15,000 management employees who have been training to do critical repair and installation work.
Managers plan to work 12 hours a day, seven days a week until the strike ends. They said customers can expect some delays in repairs, installation and directory assistance calls, but there should be little effect on calls going through since much of that service is automated.
Both sides are now waiting for a federal mediator to call them back to the table, after the talks ended shortly before midnight Saturday.
Based in Denver, U S West Inc. has about 25 million customers in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Montana, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. Only Montana is not affected since none of the workers there are members of the striking union, the Communications Workers of America.
``Right now, we're dumbfounded. The union appears to be turning its back on one of the largest pay-and-benefit offers in the industry,'' said U S West spokesman David Beigie.
But CWA president Morton Bahr said, ``U S West is totally out of step with the mainstream of the communications industry.'' He said the company ``wanted a showdown to attempt to force our members to accept terms that would destroy their working conditions and job standards.''Post your comments about local news eventsFront Page || Main Index || News || Business || Texas || South Texas Outdoors || Birdwatching || Sports || Entertainment || Selena || Education || South Texas Attractions || World Wide Web