ABC Reaches Contract Accord With Workers

Walt Disney Co.’s ABC Inc. said it reached a contract agreement with the leaders of most of its unionized broadcast and engineering workers, ending a 2 1/2-year labor dispute.

Five out of 12 locals, representing more than 1,800 of the 2,400 National Assn. of Broadcast Employees and Technicians members at ABC, approved the tentative contract agreement reached last month. The group had rejected settlement terms in February, when seven other NABET locals, representing about 600 workers, ratified the settlement.

The agreement follows a three-month lockout by ABC that resulted from a one-day strike to protest health insurance changes. Leaders of the five groups initially agreed to the settlement in June after some modifications.