NABET-CWA/NBCU NEGOTIATIONS - BULLETIN #3

NABET-CWA/NBCU NEGOTIATIONS

NEW YORK CITY

BULLETIN #3 - January 17, 2023

The Union's Network Negotiating Committee (NNC) met this week with senior management representatives of NBCUniversal at the Union’s offices in New York City.

The parties engaged in frank discussions regarding vacations, layoff provisions, meal periods, short turnaround, night shift differential, as well as terms and working conditions for daily hire employees.

The Company is proposing to eliminate the existing vacation provisions in the Master Agreement and substitute the NBCUniversal Vacation Policy for all staff employees. Many NABET-represented staff employees would lose vacation time and/or be severely limited in future vacation accrual as they earn future service credit.

The Union is pursuing several substantial improvements in daily hire terms and conditions (Sideletter 32). In addition to proposed increases in the daily benefit payment, your negotiating committee is also seeking an improved accrual, usage and carryover system for paid sick leave. Additionally, the Union is proposing automatic enrollment in the 401k Plan (CWA SRT), with a 5% Company contribution. For daily hire employees who travel, the Union is proposing that “travel-only” days be paid at the employee’s regular rate of pay, with a minimum of eight hours pay. For those daily hire employees who work more than 150 days in a calendar year, the Union is seeking a portfolio of improvements which include bereavement leave, an increase in the annual personal leave payment, eligibility for the NBCUniversal Disability Plan, FMLA leave, and the opportunity to enjoy the ‘Xfinity Promoter Experience.’

While NBCUniversal is proposing to compress the short turnaround corridor to a 9-hour window, the Union is intent on maintaining the current 12-hour corridor while increasing the turnaround payment, and further applying the short turnaround provisions to all daily hires.

The parties exchanged respective wage proposals this week. The Union is proposing annual increases of 6%, 5%, 5% and 4% for a multi-year contract expiring March 31, 2027. The Company’s initial wage proposal is 1.5%, 1.5% and 1.5%. In addition to the wide difference in proposed wage increases, the parties also have very different views regarding employees who are working under overscale arrangements or personal service contracts. NABET-CWA has steadfastly maintained that all represented employees should be entitled to annual wage increases regardless of their compensation arrangement.

The current Master Agreement is slated to expire on March 31, 2023. Negotiations are scheduled to resume the week of February 20, 2023 in New York City.

Please monitor Sector and Local Union websites, and be alert for official updates relating to negotiations.

In Solidarity,

The NBC NABET-CWA Network Negotiating Committee:

• Local 11: President Lou Marinaro and Executive Board Member Rob Weiss
• Local 31: Jim Long, Network News EJ and President Bantu Opiotennione
• Local 41: Executive Board Members Ed Dabrowski and Doug Webber
• Local 53: President Emeritus Steve Ross, Executive Board Member Tim Stepich, and Warren Stern
• NABET-CWA Sector: President Charlie Braico, Local 11 General Counsel and Advisor to the Bargaining Committee Max Sicherman, Assistant to the Sector President Jodi Fabrizio-Clontz, Kristen Helmstetter, and Nikisha Johnson