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War Leads NABET and ABC to Temporarily Suspend Contract Talks
With many NABET-CWA members at Disney/ABC involved in intense coverage of the war in Iraq, the union and network have agreed to delay further contract talks until the end of April.
In a joint statement March 21, NABET-CWA President John Clark and Jeffrey Ruthizer, ABC's senior vice president of labor relations, said the hiatus was due to "the important role that ABC and its NABET-CWA represented employees are playing in coverage of the conflict."
The extension contains a provision for full wage retroactivity until midnight, May 12, 2003. Talks are set to resume April 28.
NABET's contract with ABC, affecting 5,000 workers nationwide, expired March 31. Clark opened negotiations Feb. 25 by telling the company it believes ABC has a "strong and viable future both as a broadcaster and as an employer" and that "our membership, with its tremendous skills, talents and professionalism, is the best source of manpower to do the work the company needs to get done to achieve its future successes in the coming years."
"Unfortunately, due - we believe - to short-sightedness and a form-over-substance approach, much of the potential use of those skills, talents and professionalism remains untapped and underutilized by ABC," he said. "We're here to convince you to tap it."
Job security was one of union's top three goals Clark laid out as bargaining began. Another priority is a secure retirement for members through the maintenance of a sound and well-funded pension plan, and restored medical coverage for all future retirees. The union is also concerned about better working conditions for the company's daily-hire employees, including laying a solid foundation for their retirement.
The proposals the company laid out showed no such concern for
members, attacking the bargaining unit's jurisdiction, seniority system and work rules. Bargaining committee member Ray Taylor, president of Local 54041 and a veteran of many network negotiations, characterized the ABC's initial proposals as "divorce papers," offering nothing for union members.
While Clark told ABC that he's hopeful bargaining will go better than it did in the last round, in which the company locked out employees for 2-1/2 months, he cautioned that, "We're not here to roll over and agree to demands that we and our members may believe are unjust, unnecessary or unreasonable… Please be advised that we are not interested in making further sacrifices in the livelihoods of our membership to make up for the poor business decisions made by management - especially in view of the recent bonuses, worth millions of dollars, that were paid out to the top executives of The Walt Disney Company."
Such extravagant compensation for executives was the target of a Disney shareholder resolution put forth by CWA, part of the union's ongoing fight for corporate accountability.
The resolution called on the board of directors to adopt a policy requiring that future grants of stock options to senior executives have exercise prices based on measurable criteria of performance. The proposal gained about 17 percent of voted shares, a good showing for a first-time resolution. The vast majority of shares voted are held by banks and other institutional investors, as well as Disney management.
Joseph Brady, an executive board member of NABET-CWA Local 51016, presented the resolution and noted that Disney's five top corporate officers exercised stock options worth more than $721 million between 1997 and 2001. CEO Michael Eisner alone exercised more than $680 million in the same period. Meanwhile, the price of company stock dropped 14.7 percent.
Other resolutions supported by CWA but not adopted by shareholders called for fair labor conditions for the manufacture of Disney products in China, better reporting on theme park safety and a special executive compensation review.
Disney CEO Michael Eisner justified his and other executives' multimillion-dollar bonuses, stating, "our management and talent are constantly being offered opportunities elsewhere. We feel it's important to keep our management team together."
In a joint statement March 21, NABET-CWA President John Clark and Jeffrey Ruthizer, ABC's senior vice president of labor relations, said the hiatus was due to "the important role that ABC and its NABET-CWA represented employees are playing in coverage of the conflict."
The extension contains a provision for full wage retroactivity until midnight, May 12, 2003. Talks are set to resume April 28.
NABET's contract with ABC, affecting 5,000 workers nationwide, expired March 31. Clark opened negotiations Feb. 25 by telling the company it believes ABC has a "strong and viable future both as a broadcaster and as an employer" and that "our membership, with its tremendous skills, talents and professionalism, is the best source of manpower to do the work the company needs to get done to achieve its future successes in the coming years."
"Unfortunately, due - we believe - to short-sightedness and a form-over-substance approach, much of the potential use of those skills, talents and professionalism remains untapped and underutilized by ABC," he said. "We're here to convince you to tap it."
Job security was one of union's top three goals Clark laid out as bargaining began. Another priority is a secure retirement for members through the maintenance of a sound and well-funded pension plan, and restored medical coverage for all future retirees. The union is also concerned about better working conditions for the company's daily-hire employees, including laying a solid foundation for their retirement.
The proposals the company laid out showed no such concern for
members, attacking the bargaining unit's jurisdiction, seniority system and work rules. Bargaining committee member Ray Taylor, president of Local 54041 and a veteran of many network negotiations, characterized the ABC's initial proposals as "divorce papers," offering nothing for union members.
While Clark told ABC that he's hopeful bargaining will go better than it did in the last round, in which the company locked out employees for 2-1/2 months, he cautioned that, "We're not here to roll over and agree to demands that we and our members may believe are unjust, unnecessary or unreasonable… Please be advised that we are not interested in making further sacrifices in the livelihoods of our membership to make up for the poor business decisions made by management - especially in view of the recent bonuses, worth millions of dollars, that were paid out to the top executives of The Walt Disney Company."
Such extravagant compensation for executives was the target of a Disney shareholder resolution put forth by CWA, part of the union's ongoing fight for corporate accountability.
The resolution called on the board of directors to adopt a policy requiring that future grants of stock options to senior executives have exercise prices based on measurable criteria of performance. The proposal gained about 17 percent of voted shares, a good showing for a first-time resolution. The vast majority of shares voted are held by banks and other institutional investors, as well as Disney management.
Joseph Brady, an executive board member of NABET-CWA Local 51016, presented the resolution and noted that Disney's five top corporate officers exercised stock options worth more than $721 million between 1997 and 2001. CEO Michael Eisner alone exercised more than $680 million in the same period. Meanwhile, the price of company stock dropped 14.7 percent.
Other resolutions supported by CWA but not adopted by shareholders called for fair labor conditions for the manufacture of Disney products in China, better reporting on theme park safety and a special executive compensation review.
Disney CEO Michael Eisner justified his and other executives' multimillion-dollar bonuses, stating, "our management and talent are constantly being offered opportunities elsewhere. We feel it's important to keep our management team together."