Contract Talks

The focus of longshoremen's contract talks now returns to Baltimore, where bargainers have until Nov. 30 to achieve an agreement to augment a national pact settled yesterday in Miami Beach, Fla.Local delegations for both management and the International Longshoremen's Association returned to Baltimore today, where talks could resume again shortly. The national, or master, contract affects issues common to the 36 ILA ports from Maine to Texas."It's good news that we have a contract," said David Bindler, chairman of the local management committee, the Steamship Trade Association, and regional head of Maersk Inc., a major ship line at the port.

Baltimore athletic supporters are dreaming about the possbility of Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols signing with the Orioles next offseason. But franchise icon Cal Ripken Jr. doesn't think Pujols will go anywhere if he becomes a free agent at season's end. "I can’t see Albert playing outside the Cardinal uniform," Ripken told KMOX radio in St. Louis over the weekend. Ripken said we shouldn't read anything into Pujols' decision to break off contract talks with the Cardinals before spring training.

DENVER - Qwest Communications International Inc., the largest local-telephone service provider in the Northwest, and the Communications Workers of America, which represents 60 percent of its workers, remain at odds on central elements in a new contract more than a day after the old one expired. Contract talks between the company and the CWA are "stalled," said Candice Johnson, a union spokeswoman. She said the two sides are "still very far apart on key issues." Qwest negotiators averted a walkout after failing to reach an agreement before a 12:01 a.m. deadline Sunday, when the old contract ended.

The subject of a smoke-free workplace has been opened at the bargaining table after the county Board of Education and school workers failed to reach an informal consensus on such a policy.The touchy question of smokers' vs. non-smokers' rights was left open about a year ago when some of the associations representing school workers contended the issue should be resolved in contracts."The state Board of Education has said that smoking is something that should be negotiated," said Harold Fox, chief negotiator for theCarroll County Education Association, which represents about 1,300 teachers.

Teachers Association of Anne Arundel County President Tom Paolino said yesterday that contract talks between the union and the Board of Education may be near an end, thus averting a possible work-to-rule job action.Under the two-year contract agreement, endorsed by TAAACleaders, the association gains 16 items it had requested before negotiations broke down and went to arbitration.Those include maintaining a 12-month schedule for the county's guidance counselors in schools with 750 students or more.

Government employee union leaders say they know exactly what to expect in the budget that County Executive Janet S. Owens will release today: bad news for county workers. None of the five unions of county employees up for contract renewal this year has reached any agreement with the county government. Union leaders report that negotiations have been especially bitter this year. New contracts would begin with the next fiscal year, July 1. The fire union president described negotiations as "downright ugly," and the leader of the union representing county sheriff's deputies called them "the worst in memory."

Orioles president Andy MacPhail reiterated yesterday that contract extensions for second baseman Brian Roberts and outfielder Nick Markakis are among the organization's offseason priorities and that the team has talked "generalities" with the agents of the two players. Although there hasn't been real movement on extensions for either player, that's expected to change in the coming days. "I would say we're still in the initial contact phase, but there have been conversations as it relates to both players," MacPhail said.

John Sweeney, the new president of the AFL-CIO, is expected to join thousands of unionized workers at Bell Atlantic Corp. today for a rally in Baltimore to protest the company's approach in contract talks.A spokesman for the Communications Workers of America charged that the company has taken an intransigent position because the union's contract has become enmeshed in a management struggle over who will succeed Bell Atlantic Chairman Raymond W. Smith.CWA members at Bell Atlantic have been working without a contract since the union's pact with the Philadelphia-based telephone company expired in June.

Contract talks between the county and the police union continued yesterday without a mediator, as both sides try to come to an agreement before the current contract expires June 30.Dale L. Hill, president of the Howard County Police Association, said the talks would continue this week."

Contract talks between Howard County officials and the police union could be turned over to a fact finder if an agreement is not reached today, a union official said.The talks, which began in November, have intensified in recent weeks because the two sides could not agree on a financial package and working conditions, said Dale L. Hill, president of the Howard County Police Officers Association.Because of the impasse, an independent mediator was brought in Wednesday and was to return for more talks this morning.