NABET-CWA Members Ratify Contract with ABC

NABET-CWA members nationwide have ratified a new four-year contract with Disney ABC after months of tough, tense bargaining and an overwhelming vote to authorize a strike if necessary. The pact covers 2,500 technicians, camera operators, news writers and other employees.

"On behalf of our bargaining committee, I want to thank our ABC members for their support and patience during these difficult negotiations," NABET-CWA President John Clark said. "Without their support, we wouldn't have been able to win the numerous and significant concessions we were able to wrest from the company during the intense final week of bargaining."

Among the union's victories, negotiators got ABC to drop its demand to eliminate its workers' defined-benefit pension plan, one of the key issues that led to the strike vote last spring.

Wage increases will be effective retroactively to Dec. 15, 2007.  Most members will see raises of  3.5 percent immediately, followed by 3 percent in April 2008, another 3 percent in April 2009 and 3.5 percent in the contract's final year.

The contract also includes improvements for daily hires, including making some frequent daily hires eligible for health care coverage and other benefits through Disney's Signature Benefit Plans.

CWA President Larry Cohen praised Clark and the rest of the bargaining team, calling the contract, "an enormous accomplishment given the management demands to end seniority and the pension, and the intensity of this fight for so many months. Your leadership and the outstanding bargaining committee, working with great local leaders and mobilizers, are a model for all of us."