BARGAINING UNDER WAY AT ALCATEL

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 29, 1993                   TAG: 9301290203
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
BARGAINING UNDER WAY AT ALCATEL
Alcatel Telecommunications Cable and the International Union of Electronic Workers have begun contract negotiations with job security, flexible work and plant teams the main issues.
IUE Local 164's three-year contract covering 136 workers in the optical-fiber plant will expire at midnight Feb. 7. Bargaining started Jan. 13 and the two sides are expected to continue talking every day next week.
The union wants a contract that will guarantee that Alcatel will not close its Roanoke County plant or transfer its work to a new operation at Hickory, N.C., for at least five years, said Frank Rothweiler, head of the IUE negotiating team.
Michael M. Friend, leader of company negotiators, declined to comment on the demand. "I can't bargain in the newspaper," he said.
But he said Alcatel is pushing for "a flexible work force and teams that will enable the company to improve productivity, efficiency and to be competitive." The company wants flexibility in scheduling and a combination of job classes, he said.
Wages and benefits also will be on the table, Friend added. Bargaining "is going back and forth . . . and the atmosphere is very good. . . . I hope agreement can be reached," he said.
Three years ago, Local 164 ratified a contract that included an 11.3 percent pay increase.
Rothweiler said the company wants measures that will enable the plant to advance to world-class competition against Corning Inc.'s optical-fiber operations. In exchange for this assurance, he said, the IUE asks Alcatel "to give us specific language that you won't sell or close."
If the company is unable to make that commitment, he said, "we have to assume they will not stay and we will shift to a high-wage approach" to negotiations.
Alcatel leases its plant space from ITT Corp., and that has been an issue with the union for some time. Fiber made at the Roanoke plant is shipped to Claremont, N.C., where it is processed into cable for many uses in the field of communications. The IUE has feared that Alcatel may shift production to Claremont.
Rothweiler said he has spoken for self-directed employee work teams at Alcatel and in several other plant contract negotiations. Union members attended informational meetings on the talks with the company Thursday.
In 1991, Alcatel eliminated a business development group at the Roanoke County plant as the result of cuts in defense spending. But Friend said the plant's work force has increased 30 percent during the contract that is expiring. The plant has 58 salaried employees, making a total of 194.
Alcatel is owned by a French company, Alstrom, and ITT has a small interest in that firm.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB