P.M. BRIEFING : Michigan Bell OKs Tentative Pact

DETROIT — Michigan Bell agreed on a tentative contract for 12,800 telephone workers today, paving the way for 37,000 Ameritech workers in five Midwest states to go back to work, company and union officials said.

Robert Johnson, Communications Workers of America union district vice president in Cleveland, said Ameritech’s union employees in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin would begin returning to work today. Union workers in the five states had said they would stay off the job until settlements were reached in each state.

The Michigan pact includes changes in employee scheduling rules that give the company greater flexibility and an improved employee profit-sharing plan, Mark Doman, chairman of Michigan Bell’s bargaining committee, said at a news conference.