Striking TV Union Will Seek to Void News Events Order

Union spokesmen for striking NBC technicians and writers said Tuesday that they will go to court in an effort to overturn a federal judge’s order that U.S. Atty. Robert Bonner open his new conferences to all news organizations--including NBC--regardless of their union affiliations.

Carrie Biggs-Adams, president of the National Assn. of Broadcast Employees and Technicians Local 53, and Bill Robertson, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, told a press conference that the union will join in arguments in federal court Friday seeking to dismiss the order, which was sought by NBC.

“He (Bonner) shouldn’t have to speak (to non-union news crews),” Biggs-Adams said. “Doesn’t the freedom of speech include freedom of silence?”

Biggs-Adams and Robertson illustrated their point by holding their conference at the County Federation of Labor headquarters on West 9th Street and barring a non-union news crew from KNBC-TV Channel 4 from entering.

(A Times reporter was also temporarily denied entrance because the newspaper has no union affiliation, but Robertson said organized labor has no current labor dispute with the newspaper and, therefore, the reporter was permitted to enter.)

“NBC’s attempt . . . is to control the news and to intimidate public officials into speaking to strike-breaking news crews,” Biggs-Adams read from a prepared news release. Both Bonner and Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner asked non-union KNBC news crews to leave press conferences last week after crews from other television stations who are not on strike but are sympathetic to the strikers threatened to boycott the conferences if KNBC were allowed to remain.

Bonner, who held that he had the right to invite or turn away any reporters he wished, had federal marshals escort a KNBC news crew out of his July 1 press conference.

On the following day, U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian acted on an NBC complaint and ordered Bonner to open his news conferences to all media, and scheduled further arguments on the issue Friday.

Times staff writer Jay Sharbutt in New York contributed to this story.