Tv Reporter Rick Fredericksen Avoids Haircut By Wearing Short-Hair Wig!

The biggest problem so far is in making person-to-person and collect long-distance phone calls and directory assistance. Nearly 2,000 workers are on strike in the Des Moines area about 700 supervisory and management personnel are still working, but 200 of those have been sent elsewhere in Iowa to help out where needed. The media problem is filling in for operators, supervisors are doing their best but are extremely slow because they're not familiar with the equipment, maintenance and installation problems will creep up later. General manager, Jack McAllister, expressed serious concern. Should another bad storm move through the state. He says damage from last Monday. Storm in northern Iowa has now been repaired. Negotiations on a new contract broke off yesterday over economic issues and pickets were set up at 5 o'clock. This morning we talked with some of the strikers and then visited the general managers office boy. Are you on strike divvy? Well, because I feel that we should be getting more money for what we're doing getting shorter hours for what we have to take from customers and management. We should deserve more than what we're getting and we put a lot into our jobs most of the other strikers. Here feel the same, I hope they do that's the way I've done. Are you gon na get any help from the Union a strike, pay or such well as of yet we haven't really heard that I don't think we will how this gon na affect. You stay out longer a lot more benefit and I understand the benefits they want to give us they don't they won't be into effect for quite a while. Do you think it's worth going out on strike for some union leaders say at least two weeks? Oh, I think so, certainly if we get the benefits that we're asking and that's what we want, I think more than anything else is better benefits and better retirement. How long have you worked for the telephone company? I did work for them. Thirty years, I've been retired. 20 and what why are you here, because I want a bigger pant-cho you've been here for the other strikes in, is that right? How does this compare with those well same? Would you say that the demands are about as serious now as they ever have been? More so because everything is getting higher, how long would you stand here well, all day, if I could stand them, have you been operating at all youth? I see you have Paris headsets here what do or have you been down there? Yes, I had dropped down and brush up a little bit on my operating practices and procedures, and I must say that our wonderful operators, when they're here on the job to do a fantastic job and I'm even more impressed by their ability after I go down and Try it myself what about public reaction? What do they think? Well, it's a little too early to to tell the public expect and they should expect good telephone service from us and when we fail to deliver it over a period of time. I'M sure they're not going to be too happy with us, but we're going to do everything we can to keep the telephone service at an acceptable level and and hope the that our customers will bear with us during this period of time when we are attempting to Get our employees back and and hopefully get service back to normal if he were living now. What do you think Alexandre bill would have to say about this? Well, he'd, probably scratch his head and call for Watson. There were a couple of side effects from the strike workers building an annex to the telephone company honored the picket lines this morning and construction on the building has been halted. While officials try to work out an agreement to get it going once again, the walkout will not affect Bell telephones plans to ask for a rate increase later this month and for the first time officials disclose that at 12 to 13 percent increase will be requested. That will pertain to all calls in Iowa, but not out of state calls which are regulated by the federal government prices for telephones, that other services will be going up to brick. Fredrickson KR NT news at the telephone company