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

DATE: SATURDAY, June 10, 1995                   TAG: 9506290111
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Medium

CONTRACT REACHED AT AT&T

The contract still must be ratified by 90,000 covered members of the Communications Workers of America and 20,000 members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Union officials said that would take several weeks.

The unions said the contract would provide a compounded wage increase of 10.8 percent over three years, plus $3,400 in cash and stock bonuses.

AT&T said wages at top scale will rise 3.6 percent in the first year, 3.5 percent the second year and 3.4 percent in the final year of the contract. The company calculated the increase at 10.5 percent, without compounding.

Other highlights of the settlement include:

An improved health care plan for active employees that will replace deductibles with a $10 co-payment per visit to a doctor.

A 12 percent increase in pension benefits and the inclusion of some retirees in the same managed-care plan that covers active workers.

Enhanced employee training and union access to non-union shops.

Negotiators had been working since April 3. A strike was averted when the previous contract expired May 27 after the two sides reported that they were making steady progress.

AT&T raised its wage offer late last week to a 9.25 percent increase over three years, plus bonuses. Its original offer had been 7 percent over three years, plus bonuses.

The most contentious issue had been the company's proposal to make some retirees help pay for their health care costs.

``No pensioner will pay out-of-pocket for health care premiums during the life of this agreement,'' the unions said in a joint statement.