ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, December 29, 1995              TAG: 9512290123
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: B8   EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: NEW YORK 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

AT AT&T, 2,900 PLAN TO HANG IT UP

One day before AT&T Corp.'s buyout offer to 72,000 supervisory employees was set to expire, the telecommunications company said Thursday that 2,900 workers had accepted the severance package.

While the response appeared mediocre, AT&T said the 4 percent acceptance rate was in line with initial expectations and another 700 managers might sign on by today. Additional workers will be laid off beginning in January to meet the company's unspecified job-reduction goals.

The incentive package was announced in mid-November as part of AT&T's plan to trim and split into three separate entities.

The company said Thursday that it had made the buyout offer to 72,000 employees. The total comes to about half the company's supervisory staff.

AT&T hasn't said precisely how many jobs it needs to cut as part of its breakup, but some analysts have estimated as many as 30,000 positions will be eliminated eventually. Overall, AT&T has almost 303,700 employees.

AT&T is dividing into three new companies - a communications services provider, a communications equipment maker and a computer maker.

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