‘WASN’T WORTH IT’ : NABET WON’T PUT CONTRACT TO VOTE

An NBC-proposed contract that sparked a walkout against the network on June 29 won’t be put to a membership vote, despite requests from members of two locals of the striking union, a spokesman said Wednesday.

The decision was made by officials of the National Assn. of Broadcast Employees and Technicians after conferring by phone from union offices in New York, Chicago, Cleveland, Washington, Burbank and San Francisco.

“They reaffirmed the position they had in April,” said NABET spokesman Tom Kennedy, referring to the rejection of NBC’s contract offer then by union negotiators who subsequently said the offer wasn’t worth a membership vote.

“They see no reason to change that position,” said Kennedy, speaking by phone from the union’s Burbank office. “Therefore, they’re not going to submit the contract to the membership.”

The requests for a membership vote on the contract were made last Friday after voting on the request by members of NABET locals in Chicago and Burbank. Officials at each local had emphasized that the requests didn’t indicate divisiveness within the locals, but rather a desire to show NBC that its contract would be roundly rejected if put to a vote.

A total of 2,800 members of the union, representing nearly one-third of NBC’s work force, were called off the job a day after NBC unilaterally implemented a two-year contract that the union had previously rejected.

No new union-management meetings are scheduled, although NABET officials plan to meet next week in Burbank for what Kennedy said was a four-day strategy session.

Major issues in the strike include temporary employees. NBC wants the right to hire a limited number of them on a daily basis, while the union wants them guaranteed a minimum of two weeks’ work.

The union also wants any new contract covering NBC to continue even if all or parts of the company are sold. NBC has balked at this.

The company and its parent, RCA, were bought last year by GE, which last month announced plans to sell the 60-year-old NBC Radio Network and two other NBC-owned radio networks to Westwood One in Los Angeles for $50 million.