The sight was a familiar one: workers holding picket signs, waving at cars passing by as the motorists honked their horns in support. The complaints that led those workers to the picket line were also familiar: rising health insurance costs and job security.

Twenty-six Lawrence County members of the Communications Workers of America went on strike at 12:01 a.m. this morning against SBC Communications.

Union steward Mike Prichard said the company, which made $8 to 8 1/2 million profit last year, is asking workers to pay more toward their health care costs and is wanting to charge retirees for their benefits as well.

"We feel with the profit the company made last year, there should be no change," Prichard said. "Health care is a bigger issue than pay raises."

Prichard said the union also wants core employees to have more latitude in bidding on new, higher-tech jobs in the future. He said workers are concerned that SBC is sending some of its jobs overseas to India and The Philippines, sites of two SBC customer call centers.

Management officials at the SBC

office in Ironton directed media inquiries to the company's corporate communications offices in Chicago. Phone calls to that office were not returned Friday morning. In an interview with The Associated Press, SBC spokesman Walt Sharp said the higher medical co-payments by workers would increase their share of total health-care costs to 12 percent, up from less than 7 percent now.

''We see a very, very fair proposal on the table, especially in the area of health care, which has been one of the key issues discussed,'' he said in a telephone interview from Washington.

The union's rank-and-file voted overwhelmingly last month to authorize a strike, which would be the first against SBC since the early 1980s. Negotiations started about three months ago to replace the contract, which expired last month. The Communications Workers of America gave its final strike notice Tuesday. Across the nation, 102,000 SBC workers are off the job.

The strike affects local phone service in SBC's 13-state coverage area, which includes Texas, California, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Connecticut.