BY MITCHEL ROSENBERG
NEW YORK - Into their eighth week locked-out by ABC, Inc., a
subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company, members of the National
Association of Broadcast Engineers and Technicians (NABET) are
staying solid, winning solidarity, and facing a new, union-
busting contract proposal.
The members of NABET, which is part of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), struck for one day November 2 over ABC's refusal to divulge the details of the new medical plan the media giant sought to force the union members to accept. The next day, its 2,700 members nationwide were locked out.
Commemorating its 45th day lockedout, NABET Local 16 called an expanded picket line at 6:30 a.m. at the ABC Television building in New York December 17, drawing contingents and individual unionists from CWA Local 1101, Laborers International Union Local 79, the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE), the United Auto Workers, the Teamsters, the United Transportation Union, and others.
The largest contingent was from CWA Local 1101, one of the locals that recently won a strike victory against the Bell Atlantic telephone company. CWA members expressed the idea that their fight and the NABET struggle are linked with other battles and that the unions are "starting to come together," as Local 1101 member Pat Gibbons put it.
He said the NABET action was announced on the local's taped hotline, encouraging members to show up, and that the unions are "finally learning from the PATCO strike," referring to the firing of union air traffic controllers by then-president Ronald Reagan in 1981, and the lack of union resistance to that attack.
Another CWA member, Keith Denton, said the large turnout of Local 1101 members was "definitely due to the impact of the Bell Atlantic strike."
NABET members welcomed the supporters and were clearly boosted by the 300-strong or more turnout, though some noted it could have been much larger.
Cops arrested four unionists that morning, one NABET member and three from the Laborers, accusing them of crossing the street and "obstructing traffic" on the sidewalk.
At 4:30 p.m. the same day, dozens of New York Federation of Teachers unionists joined NABET members, swelling the picket lines again. Some reported they'd recently been part of solidarity pickets with the National Education Association members who won a strike victory in Jersey City, New Jersey, in November.
NABET members welcomed a group of activists from the Mumia Abu-Jamal Defense Coalition of New York on their picket line the evening of December 21.
Defense activists expressed solidarity with NABET and explained the fight to stop the state of Pennsylvania from executing Abu-Jamal.
NABET members on the line were impressed with Abu-Jamal's refusal to be interviewed for the ABC television news show "20/20" out of solidarity for the locked out workers (see article below). Ross Helman, a video editor for the "20/20" show before the lockout with seven years at ABC said, "It takes a lot of guts to do what he did. We face losing our homes, our jobs. But he faces a lot bigger fight."
Picket captain Brendan Black, a video technician, thanked the defense activists for their presence, noting the power of Abu- Jamal's example. "If a guy on death row won't cross a picketline, it can convince others not to," he said.
NABET now faces a new contract proposal from ABC, which is "worse than the contract on the table six months ago," according to Black. He said it has "no amnesty clause" to protect activists during the lockout, includes "massive cuts in union jurisdiction," which would result in loss of many union jobs, and demands some NABET members take a lump sum wage supplement instead of a wage hike.
NABET members in New York are meeting to discuss the contract proposal December 21 and 22.
Graphic artist Lori Nosrallah did not like what she'd heard about the company proposal and was awaiting her meeting December 22 to get details. But she discussed other attacks the unionists had faced since the lockout began, including the take-away of health coverage the day before Thanksgiving. Nosrallah has tendinitis from the repetitive keyboard work she does at ABC.
Picket captain Ray Alicea summed up the determination among picketing NABET members: "We'll stay out as long as it takes - we've been out 48 days and we'll stay out another 48 if we have to." He noted the unionists have been getting $200 weekly from the union while locked out and now will be eligible for unemployment compensation.
"We're not surrendering," Alicea affirmed. "They expected us to roll over, but they've got a big surprise coming."
Mitchel Rosenberg is a member of UNITE. Al Duncan contributed to this article.