After 3-Year Battle, Intense Bargaining Yields Tentative Contract at NBC

Locals Prepare for Ratification Votes; Results to Be Announced in February

A long campaign of solidarity for NABET-CWA members at NBC Universal has paid off, as the union and company reached a tentative agreement this week with wage and job security improvements. The last contract expired March 31, 2009.

"Our members have waited three years to have a decent contract offer on the table," NABET-CWA President Jim Joyce said. "Through their solidarity and the diligence of the union's negotiating committee, we were able to obtain significant improvements from NBC's previous offer last July."

Joyce added, "I am confident that now, one year after the Comcast merger, and with this contract in place, as NBC Universal horizons expand, our members' work opportunities will expand."

The tentative contract, which would run through March 31, 2015, is the result of numerous bargaining sessions over the past three weeks in New York, and has the unanimous recommendation of the union's bargaining team, Joyce said.

The contract applies to about 2,500 staff and daily-hire employees working as broadcast technicians, newswriters, building, air conditioning and plant maintenance personnel, staging services personnel and couriers at various NBC network and local TV station operations in New York, Chicago, Burbank and Washington D.C., as well as NBC News and NBC Sports. The new contract will run through March 31, 2015.

The contract offers a total of 8 percent in wage increases over the next three years, in addition to a signing bonus upon ratification. In the area of job security, the contract provides numerous layoff protections for staff employees, and calls for the conversion of a number of daily-hire jobs into full-time staff positions.

NABET-CWA locals will be holding membership meetings in preparation for ratification votes over the next few weeks. Joyce said votes will be tallied by Feb. 10.