11.   Isabelle Clap, a spokeswoman for the company, said it was talking with the striking employees through the weekend in hopes of reaching a settlement.

12.   Kennedy, raising his voice, said the United States stood alone as the only industrialized country that failed to provide this kind of protection to striking employees.

13.   Lamassoure warned the French economy would suffer if the strikes continued and urged the striking employees to go back to work.

14.   Most phone calls are routed automatically, and New York-based Bell Atlantic said managers were filling in for striking employees.

15.   On the labor front, the bill nullifies a Clinton executive order that bars federal contractors from hiring permanent replacement workers for striking employees.

16.   Striking employees say they are walking the picket line to protect their jobs.

17.   Striking employees at Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. defied a government order to return to work as their walkout stretched into its fifth day.

18.   That sentiment and the walkout is leading some striking employees to seek work elsewhere, according to some union members.

19.   That would have left a CWA bargaining unit representing striking employees in several mid-Atlantic states alone in bargaining with Verizon.

20.   PAL earlier warned it would dismiss all striking employees if they did not return to work by Saturday, but no termination orders were immediately issued.