NABET-CWA, ABC Reach Tentative Four-Year Agreement

Contact: Jim Joyce, NABET-CWA, 212-757-7191

New York -- The National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians-Communications Workers of America (NABET-CWA) and the American Broadcasting Companies (ABC, Inc), a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, have reached an agreement on a new four-year contract to replace the one that expired March 31, 2007. 

Details of the agreement are not yet being publicly released pending membership notification.

NABET-CWA President John S. Clark, Sector Vice President James C. Joyce and the members of the five-city bargaining committee are unanimously recommending that the membership ratify the tentative agreement.

The parties reached their tentative agreement after ABC made several significant modifications to its October 22, 2007 "last, best and final" offer during off-the-record meetings that began on November 28 in New York City.

"These were extremely difficult negotiations," said NABET-CWA President Clark.  "However, our bargaining committee was able to win significant improvements to ABC's October 22 package. The Committee is convinced that the dozens of improvements that we made to ABC's package this week constitute the best deal we are able to make. We believe our members should have the opportunity to vote on this offer and to ratify it."

The agreement covers approximately 2,500 ABC employees working as engineers, traffic coordinators, news writers, desk assistants, publicists and plant maintenance workers in the company's network and station facilities in New York City, Washington, D.C.; Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The members of the Union's bargaining committee are Eugene Maxwell (New York), Maurice Thomas (Washington, D.C.), Ray W. Taylor (Chicago), Kevin Wilson (San Francisco) and Richard Daszkowski (Los Angeles).

Ballots will be mailed to NABET-CWA members covered by contract on December 17, 2007 and the secret ballot ratification process will be completed by close of business on January 11, 2007.