Reject ABC’s Offer, NABET Asks Members

A major technicians union with nearly 2,500 members at ABC in Los Angeles, New York and elsewhere said Sunday it is recommending rejection of a four-year contract the network calls its “final offer.”

But no strike vote has been taken, and “we’re not talking strike yet,” added John Krieger of the National Assn. of Broadcast Employees and Technicians.

The contract proposal covers ABC employees at its Hollywood studio, radio stations KABC-AM and KLOS-FM and KABC-TV Channel 7. Also covered are employees at ABC’s New York and Washington operations and radio and TV stations in San Francisco, New York and Chicago.

Ballots to Be Mailed

Ballots will be mailed out by April 17 and the results reported to ABC on May 3, Krieger said. The main drawback in ABC’s proposal is job security, he said.

Although the offer provides for three years of job guarantees, there are provisions by which ABC could fire up to 400 employees, 100 of them in radio, Krieger said.

That contention was disputed by Patty Matson, a Capital Cities/ABC Inc. spokeswoman in New York. She called ABC’s job-guarantee offer “unprecedented” for a network and said only 100 to 120 employees are excluded from the guarantee--60 of those in radio.

2,150 NABET Members

She said ABC employs 2,150 NABET members on a full-time basis, including 1,850 in technical areas.

Contract talks, held in San Diego since March 1, ended late Friday with ABC’s offer. The union’s five-member negotiating committee unanimously voted to urge rejection of the offer, which ABC wants ratified by May 15, Krieger said.