AT&T Inc said on Wednesday it had given its best and final offer for a labor agreement covering about 9 percent of its employees whose contract has expired.

AT&T said the offer to the 27,000 Communications Workers of America members includes pension and wage increases, and keeps 401(k) contribution as well as above-market health care.

A representative of the CWA declined comment on the offer from AT&T because negotiations were still going on.

The latest offer from AT&T was to workers in Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas.

AT&T is currently in discussions with the union for labor contracts covering a total of 80,500 of its employees. AT&T has a total employee base of about 299,000 people.

Shares of AT&T were down 1.6 pct to $25.32 in noon trading on New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

AT&T