The union representing BellSouth Corp. employees took a step Wednesday toward striking when it voted to give union leaders authority to call a work stoppage.

Jimmy Smith, vice president of the Communications Workers of America's southern district, said the chances of reaching an agreement with BellSouth by Saturday night, when the current contract expires, are "very slim."

The CWA said 97 percent of its members voted to give union leaders authority to call a strike. If the CWA strikes, about 5,800 BellSouth workers in South Florida would walk off the job.

"We're working, but I'm not very optimistic," Smith said. "BellSouth seems to have no desire to reach an agreement."

BellSouth spokeswoman Marta Casas-Celaya said the company hopes to forge a deal with the union and noted that negotiations normally run until the last minute.

But she acknowledged that these talks have been "definitely more complicated" than those held in recent years. The CWA has never held a strike against BellSouth in the 20 years since the carrier was broken off from the AT&T Corp. monopoly.

The biggest issues separating BellSouth and its workers in nine states are health-care benefits and jobs.

BellSouth pays 100 percent of medical insurance premiums for its employees, but is asking the CWA to accept less.

Casas-Celaya said BellSouth is prepared to continue phone and Internet services in case of a strike.

Managers have been assigned tasks to help keep operations running, and some have received additional training this week, she said.

"A lot of our people came up through the ranks and know how to climb poles," she said.

Smith said the CWA is debating BellSouth on health benefits for retirees, who he said face difficulty paying insurance premiums.

The union, which represents more than 45,000 of BellSouth's 64,000 workers, is also demanding greater job protection and wants to prevent positions from being moved offshore.

In June, BellSouth said it would eliminate 349 jobs, including 37 in Broward County and three in Miami-Dade.

Negotiations have been difficult in part because of "the general business environment out there," Casas-Celaya said. Corporations, facing rising health-care premiums, have asked employees to pay more of the expenses.

With telecom companies cutting and offshoring jobs, nearly all businesses in the sector feel pressure to reduce costs.

BellSouth has about 540 managers and 2,160 other workers in Broward County, Casas-Celaya said. The managers are not represented by the union and presumably would not strike.

In Palm Beach, BellSouth employs 160 managers and 700 union-represented workers. It has 580 managers and 2,940 union workers in Miami-Dade.

BellSouth shares rose 13 cents to $27.68 on Wednesday. The stock is down 2 percent for the year.

Ian Katz can be reached at ikatz@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4664.