Argentina Telephone Union To Strike Over Hours, Wages"

BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- Workers at Telecom Argentina and Telefonica de Argentina, the country's two fixed-line operators, are planning an afternoon strike Monday to demand a shorter workday and higher salaries, renewing a labor dispute that has been latent for the last year.

Sergio Sosto, spokesman at telephone union Foetra, said employees will stop working at 1 p.m. local time (1600 GMT) and hold assemblies in their workplaces. The strike will involve 15,000 workers in five provinces. During Monday's afternoon meetings, the unions will decide what measures to take later this week.

Sosto said there will probably be a 48-hour strike on Wednesday and Thursday, during which all non-automated services will be shut down. This includes directory information, international calls, some local long distance, customer service and repairs.

A year ago, Foetra workers in the capital city and greater Buenos Aires went on strike for a week over salary increases, occupying the two companies' key operational centers and threatening to paralyze nationwide and international telephone service. The union asked for a 25% salary hike and was granted an average 20% increase.

The agreement covered just one year, meaning the two sides are now locked in a new round of talks. In the last year, telephone workers have formed a new federation called FATEL, which includes Foetra and two other groups. The unions are asking for a 40% pay raise and a reduction in their hours. Sosto said the companies have offered less than 20%.

Officials at Telecom Argentina and Telefonica de Argentina couldn't be reached for comment.

A number of high-profile labor conflicts have emerged in the last few months, as inflation has ticked steadily upward. The consumer price index is expected to top 12% by the end of the year.

Sosto said the unions aren't ruling out another takeover over operational facilities.

"We are prepared for that," he said. "I don't want to say it's the only road. The company is holding the key here."

Telecom Argentina's Chief Executive Officer, Carlos Felices, said at a company event two weeks ago that "relations with the union are fine, given what they can be with tension over salaries."

Felices added that "salaries have accompanied increases in costs for our people." Telephone companies' margins have been under significant pressure for much of the last year, with intense competition in wireless and Internet services keeping prices low while advertising and labor costs rise. Telecom Argentina and Telefonica de Argentina are both still negotiating new contracts with the government and don't foresee increases in regulated fixed-line rates in the near term. Those rates were converted from dollars to devalued pesos and frozen in 2002.

-By Wailin Wong, Dow Jones Newswires; 5411-4311-3125; wailin.wong@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires "

Posted to the site on 19th December 2005