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NYC Mayor Shows Support for NABET-CWA Protesters
Leaving a lavish gala marking the opening of the 80-story Time Warner Center in New York on Wednesday night, Mayor Michael Bloomberg looked across the street and saw scores of NABET-CWA members with picket signs decrying CNN's union-busting.
Rather than ignore them as many of the elite guests did, Bloomberg walked over and asked why they were there, apparently recognizing some of the picketers as news photographers who'd covered him.
"He was kind enough to spend a few minutes listening to our plight," NABET Local 51011 President Edward McEwan said. "He was very sympathetic to our cause and said what CNN was doing to us was wrong."
McEwan explained to Bloomberg that CNN late last year had stopped contracting with 200 technicians and camera operators who are represented by NABET-CWA in New York and Washington, D.C. About half the workers have been rehired but for lower wages and benefits, and without union protection.
Nearly 200 union members turned out for the protest. Demonstrators came from Locals 51011 and 51016, some traveling from Washington, and from CWA Local 1109 in New York. They were joined by one of the New York labor community's giant rats.
McEwan said while many guests and passers-by were indifferent to the union members, one TV reporter who knew some of them broke down in tears, and many people readily accepted the brochures the union handed out.
CNN's new studios in New York are in the towering building of parent company Time Warner, located at Columbus Circle. Since the 1980s, CNN had employed camera operators and technicians in New York and Washington through subcontractors who had bargaining agreements with NABET-CWA.
NABET-CWA President John Clark and CWA President Morton Bahr in a letter to Screen Actors Guild President Melissa Gilbert, asked SAG and SAG members to contact CNN about the situation and asked that members, "to the extent that it is practicable, consider refraining from giving one-on-one interviews with CNN at the Academy Awards and elsewhere; or, at least, to express concern about the situation whenever CNN reporters or crews seeking such interviews are encountered."
McEwan said since CNN cut off its contracts, the network has refused to speak to the union to address workers' issues. He said his top priority is getting all workers their jobs back, then getting bargaining unit recognition.
McEwan said the union plans to file charges against CNN with the National Labor Relations Board and is looking at who was let go and who has been rehired to determine whether race, age and union affiliation are leading to discriminatory practices.
In addition to the Time Warner demonstration, the union has rallied several times outside the large windows at CNN's street-level studio at Sixth Avenue and 51st Street. "It's really disrupted their broadcast," McEwan said. "All of sudden the blinds go down, and shots become tight head shots."
Rather than ignore them as many of the elite guests did, Bloomberg walked over and asked why they were there, apparently recognizing some of the picketers as news photographers who'd covered him.
"He was kind enough to spend a few minutes listening to our plight," NABET Local 51011 President Edward McEwan said. "He was very sympathetic to our cause and said what CNN was doing to us was wrong."
McEwan explained to Bloomberg that CNN late last year had stopped contracting with 200 technicians and camera operators who are represented by NABET-CWA in New York and Washington, D.C. About half the workers have been rehired but for lower wages and benefits, and without union protection.
Nearly 200 union members turned out for the protest. Demonstrators came from Locals 51011 and 51016, some traveling from Washington, and from CWA Local 1109 in New York. They were joined by one of the New York labor community's giant rats.
McEwan said while many guests and passers-by were indifferent to the union members, one TV reporter who knew some of them broke down in tears, and many people readily accepted the brochures the union handed out.
CNN's new studios in New York are in the towering building of parent company Time Warner, located at Columbus Circle. Since the 1980s, CNN had employed camera operators and technicians in New York and Washington through subcontractors who had bargaining agreements with NABET-CWA.
NABET-CWA President John Clark and CWA President Morton Bahr in a letter to Screen Actors Guild President Melissa Gilbert, asked SAG and SAG members to contact CNN about the situation and asked that members, "to the extent that it is practicable, consider refraining from giving one-on-one interviews with CNN at the Academy Awards and elsewhere; or, at least, to express concern about the situation whenever CNN reporters or crews seeking such interviews are encountered."
McEwan said since CNN cut off its contracts, the network has refused to speak to the union to address workers' issues. He said his top priority is getting all workers their jobs back, then getting bargaining unit recognition.
McEwan said the union plans to file charges against CNN with the National Labor Relations Board and is looking at who was let go and who has been rehired to determine whether race, age and union affiliation are leading to discriminatory practices.
In addition to the Time Warner demonstration, the union has rallied several times outside the large windows at CNN's street-level studio at Sixth Avenue and 51st Street. "It's really disrupted their broadcast," McEwan said. "All of sudden the blinds go down, and shots become tight head shots."