In exchange AT&T will put money into health-care reimbursement accounts for employees and offer a 3 percent annual raise for each of the next two years, and 2.75 percent in the third year. Retirees will get a 2 percent annual pension increase, officials said.
Union members still have to vote on the agreement before it can take effect.
"We didn't get everything we wanted, but in this day and age, with the economy the way it is, I think it's an excellent package,'' said Don LaRotonda, chairman of the negotiating team for the Communications Workers of America.
The national average premium for employer-sponsored coverage is $65 per month for a single person and $293 per month for families, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, which notes premiums have risen 131 percent in the last decade.
The Communications Workers of America wrapped up nearly nine months of intermittent negotiations with the three-year contract proposal. It would cover 32,000 former BellSouth workers in the Southeast.
About 1,500 of those workers are in the Nashville area. The Southeast has been working without a contract since August.
LaRotonda pointed out that pay raises under the proposed deal are more generous than previous years. Under the former five-year contract, annual raises for employees were 1.5 percent to 2 percent, LaRotonda said.
But it also appears the union will give up a key benefit that members had long enjoyed — namely health insurance without employees paying a share of premiums. In fact BellSouth workers went on strike in 1983 over that identical issue, said Rick Feinstein, president of CWA Local 3808 in Nashville.
Deductibles will be $350 for an individual and $700 for a family under the proposal, officials said.
Contact business reporter Naomi Snyder at 615-259-8284 or nsnyder@tennessean.com.
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