The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 21, which represents 11,500 SBC employees, has issued an early strike authorization. Workers could walkout as early as Sunday when their contract expires. The union authorized the early strike after becoming frustrated with SBC for ignoring their proposals during negotiations. SBC faced a similar situation last month when the Communications Workers of America staged a four-day strike against the company before agreeing to a contract.
See "SBC Sunday strike a possibility", Jon Van, Chicago Tribune, June 21, 2004