Area Broadcast Workers Pull Off Double-Play

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

Workers at Montgomery Community Television - members of NABET Local 31 - overwhelmingly ratified a 3-year contract earlier this month; the vote was 13-0. NABET 31 also just negotiated a “ground breaking agreement” with ABC that will add over 3,700 “man days” for local union members. “When ESPN’s popular weekday programs, Pardon the Interruption and Around the Horn, begin broadcasting in High-Definition this fall,” reports NABET 31 President James Carl Mayers, “the studio and control room crews, editors, and other workers will be represented by NABET-CWA.” Both shows were previously produced at a non-union shop. Mayers calls the agreement, which was signed on May 28, “represents a major opportunity for work for NABET-CWA represented employees at the ABC News Bureau Washington” and credited Sector President Jim Joyce for his role in securing the agreement.