May 25—Some 100,000 members of Communications Workers of America reached a tentative five-year agreement with SBC Communications that strengthens employment security, protects health security and improves wages and pensions.

The pact, reached when the workers went on strike for four days after three months of contract talks, also gives union workers access to the new Internet and DSL broadband jobs at SBC as new technologies continue to grow.

Under the tentative contract, SBC will continue to pay for health care benefits. The company will help offset higher costs for prescription drugs and medical co-payments with cash bonuses to active employees and retirees.

CWA and SBC agreed to work together to bring back tech support jobs from overseas when the current outsourcing contract expires. SBC has sent 29,000 American jobs overseas in the past three years.

“This agreement helps ensure that American workers and their communities benefit from the promise of new information technology jobs,” says CWA President Morton Bahr.

CWA Mobilized Community Support

SBC Communications customers mobilized to support hometown jobs by giving the union permission to switch their phone service to another union carrier, AT&T, if the union deemed it necessary.