Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Disney Earnings Up, Yet Still Won't Settle ABC NABET Contract

In an article by RBR-TVBR Senior Editor, Dave Seyler today, Robert A. Iger, Chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company announced; 

"We had a phenomenal third quarter, delivering the largest quarterly earnings in the history of our company. Earnings per share were up 31% over last year, driven by growth in every one of our businesses. We also delivered record earnings per share for the first nine months of our fiscal year, and we believe our results clearly demonstrate Disney’s unique value proposition and great potential to deliver long-term growth.”

With Operating income up 18% to $3.236B and free cash flow up 94% to $2.145B, one has to wonder why the Disney owned ABC Television Network can't offer their NABET-CWA represented employees a fair contract.

The company had agreed to the presence of a federal mediator for this week’s talks in San Francisco. Then, in an inexplicable turnabout, and despite the Union’s stated belief that the presence of a federal mediator would be beneficial to this process at this time, ABC has now rejected the Union’s offer by refusing the participation this week with the currently assigned FMCS mediator. 

Accordingly, today NABET-CWA President James C. Joyce contacted the National Director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, George H. Cohen, to further advance mediation efforts.

On Friday, July 13th, the Company presented NABET-CWA with a document which ABC characterized as a ‘Last, Best and Final Package Proposal’.  This package included an unsatisfactory approach to the important issue of digital camera usage.  

The Company’s proposal could possibly diminish ENG/EFP work by as much as 18% each year, with an overall potential loss of 48% of such work during the life of the contract. 

The package also included a wage proposal that fails to address the economic concerns of the NABET-CWA represented ABC employees, offering substandard raises and no retro pay.

The current contract expired on March 31, 2011.

For more information, visit the NABET-CWA Network Negotiating Committee website.

No comments: