Union officials consider new phone company offer

Communications Workers of America officials met to vote on a new proposal from American Telephone and Telegraph Company that could settle the nationwide telephone strike, according to a union spokesman.

The new offer, presented Saturday night, was the first proposal AT&T has made since the strike by 625,000 employees began Aug. 7. Although details were kept secret, union sources said they were told AT&T had proposed a better wage package than one rejected previously. The earlier plan had offered a 3.5 percent wage increase for senior employees in the first year of a new contract and cost-of-living increases in the next two years.