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ABC, NABET-CWA Reach Tentative Agreement on New Contracts: Following is a joint news release issued
New York – The National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, the broadcast sector of the Communications Workers of America, NABET-CWA, and ABC, Inc., today announced that they have reached tentative agreement on new contracts for the ten bargaining units covering technicians, newswriters and other job classifications. The tentative agreement follows a week of intense off-the-record talks between the parties in Chicago which was subject to a news blackout. Negotiations began in late February, and the contracts expired on May 12.
The NABET-CWA Negotiating Committee agreed to a prompt ratification vote with the unanimous recommendation that the Union's membership accept the proposed contracts.
This was a long and difficult process," said John S. Clark, President of the NABET Sector of CWA. "But both parties were able to hunker down on August 8 and work through all the issues to reach an agreement our bargaining committee could recommend to our membership."
"We're pleased to reach a comprehensive agreement on the myriad of issues that both sides brought to the bargaining table over the past months, and we believe this mutually agreeable resolution reestablishes the historic workplace relationship of ABC and NABET-CWA," said Jeff Ruthizer, ABC's Senior Vice President of Labor Relations. "We look forward to building on that relationship in the future."
The NABET-CWA union membership at ABC includes regular employees at ABC's television and radio networks and station operations. It encompasses New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco engineering technicians; New York desk assistants; Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco newswriters; New York radio talent coordinators; New York and San Francisco traffic coordinators; New York publicists; and Los Angeles plant maintenance and radio program coordinators. Several thousand additional employees who work for ABC each year on a daily hire basis are also union members covered by the contracts.
The new contracts, covering all ten units, would take effect upon ratification and would continue through an expiration date of March 31, 2007. The results of a vote on ratification by NABET-CWA-represented employees are expected by September 26, 2003.
For more information, contact, at ABC, Inc., Julie Hoover at (212) 456-6641 (office), (877) 825-9527 (pager), or (917) 856-6086 (mobile).
For NABET-CWA, Jim Joyce at (212)-757-7191 (office).
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The NABET-CWA Negotiating Committee agreed to a prompt ratification vote with the unanimous recommendation that the Union's membership accept the proposed contracts.
This was a long and difficult process," said John S. Clark, President of the NABET Sector of CWA. "But both parties were able to hunker down on August 8 and work through all the issues to reach an agreement our bargaining committee could recommend to our membership."
"We're pleased to reach a comprehensive agreement on the myriad of issues that both sides brought to the bargaining table over the past months, and we believe this mutually agreeable resolution reestablishes the historic workplace relationship of ABC and NABET-CWA," said Jeff Ruthizer, ABC's Senior Vice President of Labor Relations. "We look forward to building on that relationship in the future."
The NABET-CWA union membership at ABC includes regular employees at ABC's television and radio networks and station operations. It encompasses New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco engineering technicians; New York desk assistants; Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco newswriters; New York radio talent coordinators; New York and San Francisco traffic coordinators; New York publicists; and Los Angeles plant maintenance and radio program coordinators. Several thousand additional employees who work for ABC each year on a daily hire basis are also union members covered by the contracts.
The new contracts, covering all ten units, would take effect upon ratification and would continue through an expiration date of March 31, 2007. The results of a vote on ratification by NABET-CWA-represented employees are expected by September 26, 2003.
For more information, contact, at ABC, Inc., Julie Hoover at (212) 456-6641 (office), (877) 825-9527 (pager), or (917) 856-6086 (mobile).
For NABET-CWA, Jim Joyce at (212)-757-7191 (office).
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