THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 2, 1996 TAG: 9603020236
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVE MAYFIELD AND SUSAN W. SMITH, STAFF WRITERS
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
About 500 employees of GTE Corp. are working without a contract at one of the company's local phone subsidiaries in Virginia, prompting some of them to picket Friday in protest of the company's demands for wage and benefit concessions.
The company's three-year contract with Communications Workers of America Local 2275 expired Wednesday. The union represents GTE employees in about 20 cities and counties throughout the state, including 114 workers in South Hampton Roads, Franklin and Isle of Wight County.
Bargainers for the two sides met Thursday and plan to reconvene Monday. Representatives of both the company and the union said they're hopeful of reaching a new contract without a company lockout or a strike by workers. In the meantime, GTE said services for customers have been unaffected.
GTE spokeswoman Lacy Yeatts declined to say why the two sides have so far been unable to reach an agreement. But Bill Evitt, the CWA local's bargaining committee chairman, blamed the company's concession demands.
Among other things, he said, the company wants to cut holiday and dental benefits and reduce overtime rates. While GTE has offered a wage increase for most affected employees, it does want to freeze wages for some others at least temporarily, he added.
GTE claims the changes are necessary to brace it for competition in local phone services in the parts of the state where it now holds a monopoly position.
``We know competition is coming,'' Evitt responded, ``and we want to meet it together. But I don't think you can do that by demoralizing your work force.'' He said GTE employees should receive wage and benefit increases.
Evitt pointed out that unionized workers of Bell Atlantic Corp. last week ratified a contract providing for a nearly 11 percent pay hike over three years. He said the Bell Atlantic employees were earning more than their GTE counterparts even before that new pact.
At an ``informational picket'' line at one of GTE's offices in Chesapeake on Friday, employees complained about the phone company's demands.
``We are the backbone of the company,'' said Ronald E. Bray, a union steward who is a service technician with 19 years of experience. ``We have put in our time, paid our dues, and we have the expertise to do our jobs. We just want to be treated accordingly.'' by CNB