Senate TV Techs Bargain Good Contract Despite Federal Wage Freeze

Refusing to let the federal wage freeze get in the way of a good contract, Senate TV broadcast technicians represented by NABET-CWA got creative at the bargaining table and negotiated a deal that members approved unanimously Dec. 16.

The 40-member unit of Local 52031 includes technicians, camera operators and editors. You see their work every time you watch the Senate on C-Span 2 or see video from the Senate floor on any news program.

While the new four-year contract won't affect paychecks until the federal government lifts the freeze on raises, comp time language is significantly better. New provisions improve when and how workers get comp time and what they get for it. For instance, employees who didn't get at least a 12-hour break between shifts were getting a half-hour of comp time for every missed hour of time off. Now they will be compensated for the full hour. That means an employee who leaves work at midnight and returns at 8 a.m. would bank four hours of comp time.

NABET-CWA President Jim Joyce praised the "creative and strategic thinking" that made the contract possible, and said Congress should heed the example that both the union and management teams set in reaching a successful conclusion. "While members of Congress are stuck in unnecessary gridlock on economic matters, both sides in these contract talks were determined not to get bogged down in minutiae," he said.

The new contract is the second for the Senate unit since NABET-CWA organized the workers in 2006. Local 52031 also represents broadcast technicians in the House; their contract expires in 2013.