Short Strike Brings Settlement at Lucent

A strike against Lucent Technologies - the shortest in CWA history - ended with a tentative five-year agreement on June 1 covering 26,000 CWA members and some 18,000 members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

CWA members at Lucent Technologies were out on the picket lines at midnight June 1, CWA's strike deadline, but a settlement was reached two hours later.

The key to reaching agreement at Lucent was the company's withdrawal of its demand to shift health care costs to retirees, said Vice President James Irvine, CWA's chief negotiator. "That was the final issue separating us. We simply were never going to allow the company to abandon the men and women who have built this tremendously profitable enterprise over the years."

CWA President Morton Bahr applauded the bargaining team "for their professionalism and perseverance in winning an outstanding agreement that our members deserve. It's a fair agreement in line with Lucent's success, it gives the company long-term labor stability and recognizes that its skilled union workforce is a major competitive asset."

Highlights of the new Lucent contract include improvements in job security and job mobility, and access to new jobs at future businesses, along with wage and benefit improvements that "recognize the skills and the high productivity that our members bring to Lucent Technologies," Irvine said.

Base wage increases total 18.7 percent, compounded over five years, plus cost-of-living adjustments in the fourth and fifth years of the agreement in the event of an inflation surge. Upon ratification, workers will receive a bonus of $1,000 in Lucent stock. The contract includes an additional $1,000 stock bonus. Also negotiated was a new performance reward program expected to deliver $1,000 or more each year in bonuses if company performance targets are met.

Pension benefits will be improved by 20 percent over the contract term. Health benefits were improved for both active and retired workers. Other gains include expanded family programs for grief counseling, help with living wills and up to eight hours' paid leave per month for community service activities.

Ratification is to be completed by July 23.