Qwest shares rise after union agreement

[billyoc]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Qwest Communications International Inc (Q.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) shares surged more than 19 percent after the U.S. phone company reached an agreement with its labor union over wages and health care issues and ended the possibility of a workers' strike.

Qwest and the Communications Workers of America reached a four-year tentative agreement less than two weeks after union members voted down a previous, three-year proposal, the company said in a statement over the weekend.

Qwest shares rose 42 cents, or 19.3 percent, to $2.60 in morning New York Stock Exchange trade. The stock also benefited from bullish sentiment in the overall market as the Nasdaq composite .IXIC and Dow Jones industrial average .DJI both rose more than 5 percent.

The latest agreement includes a cumulative wage increase of about 12.6 percent over the life of the contract, compared with a 9 percent rise that had been offered in the three-year agreement in August, Qwest said.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE49C4ZM20081013

So much for "the unions are killing us". :eyes: