Position Available: Broadcast Production Technician
Vacancy Announcement Number: HRS-005-19
Office/Location: U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.
Closing Date: Aug 14, 2019
Salary Level/Range: $78,172
Proposed Starting Date: Immediate

Click here for more info: https://www.house.gov/employment/positions-with-other-house-organizations/5980

June 10, 2019

On Thursday, June 6, 2019 your NABET-CWA Local 31 Bargaining Committee, consisting of rank and file member Kelly Hosey, NABET Local 31 Attorney Keith Bolek and Rebecca Richardson, along with Local 31 President Bob Williams, reached a Tentative Contract Agreement with PBS management.

The Agreement is for a term of three (3) years. We will send details of the Agreement out later this week.

A unit meeting is also being planned. Ballots should arrive by mail shortly.

I would like to thank and acknowledge Kelly Hosey for his hard work and diligence throughout this process.

V/R,
Bob Williams
President, NABET-CWA Local31

May 10, 2019

Dear NABET-CWA Family,
 
It is with a very heavy heart that I write to inform you that our dear friend and colleague Fred Saburro died yesterday afternoon.  Freddie has struggled with health issues during the past several months, and yesterday God called him home to rest in eternity.
 
Freddie was a totally devoted leader, an extremely loyal friend and a true gentleman.  His imprint on each of us, and his impact on our Union, will be missed in a profound way, but we will never forget him.  As we mourn his passing, we must also celebrate the remarkable life of this legendary leader – the “Godfather of NABET.”
 
Freddie’s life was truly a life well lived.  We all have special memories of Freddie, and dozens of funny stories from our time with him.  Focusing on those memories and stories will help each of us through this very sad period.
 
At this time, Freddie’s wife Ida and the Saburro family are asking for space and privacy.  Out of respect for those wishes, please refrain from any telephone calls to the family during the next several days.
 
When we have further information, we will share it with you.
 
With regret and sympathy,

Charlie Braico
NABET-CWA

This year started out in a very active fashion. We have concluded contracts with NBC and WHUT that will be in effect through 2022 and 2020, respectively. These contracts include pay raises over their terms, a signing bonus (NBC) and retro pay (WHUT).  In addition, NPR inked a two-year extension of their contract that included a signing bonus and guaranteed pay raises.

We are in active talks with Montgomery Community Media (MCM) and will begin talks with PBS in May of this year. The Senate Recording Studio (SRS) will begin negotiations this Fall. All other contracts remain in effect. We will begin talks with NASCAR technicians to get them a contract with NBC.

Although this is all positive news, the corporations that we negotiate with are intent on downsizing away from a well paid union workforce and transitioning to an unrepresented group of multimedia journalists (MMJ’s), who I feel we should try to organize into NABET.  Along the lines of corporate intransigence, we are entering the fourth (4th) year of contract negotiations with WJLA and the anti-union/anti-worker company, The Sinclair Broadcasting Group. We are also still involved with the fifteen (15) year legal battle with CNN concerning the members who were wrongfully dismissed in 2003. We are currently in mediation with that case.

As for Local 31, we are on stable financial footing thanks to some astute action taken by our Treasurer, Carl Mayers, in moving some of our investments from stocks to more stable investments.

We have installed new Shop Stewards for the term beginning April 1, 2019 and ending March 31, 2022, have increased participation of Executive Board members and have named several Assistants to the President. Petitions are now out for participation in the NABET-CWA Sector Conference that will be held in July 2019.

Shop Steward training will be provided in the coming months.

I was recently at the NAB Trade Show and saw how new technologies are consolidating what were once individual craft jobs into one person band operations.  We need to find ways to maintain jurisdiction over these technologies and the jobs they create. This will be one of our greatest challenges moving forward.

It is our involvement and participation in our Union which will give us strength and stability for the future.

In Solidarity,

Bob Williams
President NABET-CWA Local 31                                                      BW/mwopeiu153afl-cio