AT&T Inc. (T) and the Communications Workers of America agreed to extend by five days to Aug. 9 the expiration of a core wireline contract that covers 22,000 employees in the southeastern U.S., the carrier said in a statement published on PR Newswire.

The extension will allow negotiations to continue between the company and the union, according to the statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kartik Goyal in New Delhi at kgoyal@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Tighe at ptighe@bloomberg.net