SBC Workers Walk Off Job
O'BRIEN: From manning the phone lines to walking the picket lines. Tens of thousands of SBC Communications workers are making that transition today. Their hang-ups over management's latest contract offer have prompted a four-day strike that began just after midnight. The striking union, representing nearly 100,000 SBC workers in 13 states, including Connecticut. CNN's financial unit, Allan Chernoff joining us live from the Nutmeg State with more on that. Hello, Allan.</s>CHERNOFF: Hello, Miles. And the strikers are extending all the way from Connecticut to California, 13 states that SBC Communication provides phone service. It has been a long job here, because they have been negotiating for three months and still have been unable to reach a new contract. The issues, very familiar here, we're talking about wages, health care benefits, and also job security.</s>PAUL HONGO, PRESIDENT, CWA LOCAL 1298: We're here today because we want to try to force SBC back to the table. Contract negotiations have broken down and it's one of those things where you want to do whatever you have to do to get the other side back to the table so we can negotiate a fair contract.</s>CHERNOFF: Well, SBC Communications is in a declining business. In fact, its revenue has been declining for 2 1/2 years. It's been losing local phone customers to upstart phone companies, and now to cable television companies, which are providing phone service. The company, SBC, has offered six different contracts and it says it has gone as far as it can go.</s>BEVERLY LEVY, SBC SPOKESWOMAN: The union has to understand the telecommunications industry has changed. Our business has changed. We're in a very competitive business. We appreciate our employees. We value them. And that's why we have such a good offer on the table. The first year, there's a 4 percent lump sum payment that's very generous.</s>CHERNOFF: Regular phone operations, though, are pretty much unaffected because they're all automated now. The network operations that we visited in the building right behind me, they seem to be running just fine. Managers filling in for the strikers right now. But people who want to get repair or installation, they will probably experience some delays. Now, there is a negotiation scheduled here in Connecticut this afternoon, a regional negotiation, to focus on job security and perhaps they can make some progress on that very important issue. Drew, back to you.</s>O'BRIEN: All right, thank you very much, Allan Chernoff.