The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, a union representing employees of SBC Communications Inc., the second largest local phone company, on Sunday said it has reached a tentative five-year agreement with the telecommunications giant.
The agreement affects 11,300 IBEW Local Union 21 members employed in Illinois and Northwest Indiana, part of SBC’s 13-state territory.
"We are pleased that this tentative agreement was reached in time without averting to a strike or creating any disruption of service to SBC residential and commercial phone customers," IBEW Local Union 21 President-Business Manager Ronald E. Kastner said in a statement.
The pact addresses the union’s major objectives concerning job security, protecting health benefits for workers and retires and providing improvements in wages and pensions, the IBEW said.
The tentative agreement is subject to ratification by the union membership.
Last month, San Antonio-based SBC said the Communications Workers of America had tentatively agreed to the terms of a five-year contract covering 100,000 SBC employees.
