The first round of contract negotiations for a successor Master Agreement between NABET-CWA and NBC Universal has concluded. The Union and the Company have been bargaining steadily in New York City for the past two weeks.
Following the initial exchange of packages, the parties spent additional time providing more thorough explanations and rationale for each respective proposal.
The Union is seeking to improve working conditions and benefits for all members through a package of proposals focused on quality of life matters and economic improvements.
The package of contract proposals presented by the Company seeks a number of significant economic concessions. The Company is proposing a 33% reduction in the night shift differential premium, a compression of the short turnaround corridor (from 12 hours to 9 hours), an elimination of the $35 payment associated with the 30 minute meal, and a change on “travel-only day” pay from an hourly rate to a flat stipend, which would not count as time worked for any purpose. In addition, the NBCU representatives have offered a proposal that would permit the Company, in its discretion, to pay employees for earned holiday payback days, and further proposes to eliminate the “mandatory holiday payback days” provision in Article XVIII.
The NABET-CWA Network Negotiating Committee met in caucus today at Local 11 in New York. Negotiations are scheduled to resume on January 23, 2018, in Los Angeles, CA.
The Union was represented in this round by Lou Marinaro, Rob Weiss and Max Sicherman (New York, Local 11), Mike Judge and Bob Williams (Washington, D.C., Local 31), Ed Dabrowski and Don Villar (Chicago, Local 41), Steve Ross and Warren Stern (Los Angeles, CA, Local 53) as well as NABET-CWA General Counsel Judi Chartier, Daily Hire Steward Steve Wolff and Jodi Fabrizio-Clontz, Assistant to the President, NABET-CWA.
Bulletins and other official information concerning these negotiations will be distributed by the Sector and Locals as necessary.
NABET-CWA Network Negotiating Committee
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