AT&T said "out of respect for union membership" that it would not comment on details of the agreement until it has been presented for the ratification vote. Last month's rejection, by a 55% to 45% vote, ended AT&T's string of four years without major labor issues. But since 40,000 Verizon Communications (VZ) workers went on a seven-week strike in April and ended up with a better deal from the carrier, there have been increasing signs of possible labor strife across the industry. In recent weeks, a group of 2,000 CWA workers in AT&T's Internet unit voted to authorize a strike after the carrier proposed freezing wages for three years and increasing workers' contributions for health care coverage. And members in a larger, 15,000 member unit covering traditional telephone service workers at AT&T in California and Nevada, also represented by the CWA, have been picketing AT&T events as negotiations over their next contract drag on.