Washington ? Verizon and union negotiators agreed late Saturday to continue contact talks beyond a midnight strike deadline, and workers were told to plan to report to work as scheduled today, union officials said.

While negotiations were moving at “a pretty furious pace” late Saturday, that could change within hours and again move workers to the brink of a strike, cautioned Jim Spellane, spokesman for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

“As long as we’re still talking, negotiations aren’t going to wrap up at midnight,” Spellane said. “We’re telling people that if negotiations are going on, people are to keep working.”

Verizon Communications spokesman Eric Rabe said the company’s negotiators were prepared to stay to reach an agreement.

“But making progress and having an agreement are two different things,” Rabe said. “We need to get an agreement. We’re going to stay with it and keep working on it.”

Union leaders “determined that enough progress had been made at the bargaining table to continue working toward a contract settlement,” said a statement by IBEW and the Communications Workers of America, which represents 60,000 workers.

But labor negotiators “reported that key issues remain unsolved,” the statement said.

Negotiators still were hunkered down at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service in Washington, where key talks have been ongoing with government mediators since Tuesday.

Central issues remain job security and health care costs for Verizon’s East Coast operators and technicians, which are represented by IBEW and the Communications Workers of America.

Their three-year contracts were expiring at 11 p.m. CDT Saturday.

Some local telephone service from Virginia to Maine could be affected by a strike, although Verizon has insisted customers making regular long-distance and local calls shouldn’t have trouble.

Verizon employees and their supporters gather for a candlelight vigil in front of the Verizon offices in Portland, Maine, hours before a strike deadline. Though workers intended to go on strike at 11:01 p.m. CDT Saturday if the dispute hadn't been solved, Verizon and union negotiators agreed to continue talks through the deadline and told employees to go to work today.

Rabe said disruptions with phone service should be avoided with about 30,000 managers and outside contract workers prepared to take over in case of a strike.

However, delays or disruptions could occur for repairs and new installations of phone and Internet service, and for calls to customer service centers.

The 2000 strike, which lasted 18 days, caused a backlog of about 250,000 repair requests and new orders.

The unions represent workers in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia and the District of Columbia.