SAN ANTONIO ? SBC Communications Inc. had insisted its unionized employees were seeking too much — asking the company to improve job security amid cost-cutting efforts to stay competitive.

But after a four-day, 13-state strike, SBC and the Communications Workers of America settled Tuesday on a tentative contract far more generous than the company previously said it could afford.

The five-year agreement increases wages and pensions, guarantees work for more than 100,000 union employees and could reduce the outsourcing of jobs. A ratification vote by CWA members is expected in June.

The settlement came hours after the telephone operators, linemen, service technicians and others returned to their jobs following a four-day walkout, which included about 100 workers in the Lawrence area.

Afterward, both sides touted the deal’s benefits.

“This agreement helps ensure that American workers and their communities benefit from the promise of new information technology jobs,” CWA President Morton Bahr said.

“SBC now has a labor agreement that provides us greater control over our cost structure and flexibility to meet our competitive challenges, while continuing to provide the outstanding wages and benefits that are hallmarks of this company,” SBC Chairman and Chief Executive Edward Whitacre Jr. said.

Some watching the bargaining from the outside weren’t as ebullient. On Wall Street, investors sent SBC shares down 14 cents, or 0.6 percent, to close at $24.05 on the New York Stock Exchange.

“SBC blinked — this is not a good deal,” said Peter Morici, a business professor at the University of Maryland.

Morici says while SBC may have made some progress in controlling costs, it and other telecom giants need to make dramatic changes to meet external challenges.

“Their cost structure is going to be really kind of high,” he said of SBC’s new contract, “and their ability to implement new technology will be limited as they face increased competition from wireless alternatives.”