Bargaining Update

NBC

NABET-CWA members continued bargaining this week for a successor Master Agreement, exchanging proposals with the company in a number of areas including short turnaround, night shift differential, arbitrators, per diem, and travel pay. They also discussed overseas assignments, meal provisions, and streaming platforms, as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

While progress is being made, management continues to insist on making changes to the vacation policy and undermining the seniority structure as it relates to involuntary layoffs, and company negotiators have been unresponsive to several proposals regarding reclassifications, upgrades, and benefits for daily hire employees.

The current Master Agreement is set to expire on March 31, 2023.

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DirecTV Puerto Rico

After weeks of bargaining with the company, CWA members reached a tentative agreement at DirecTV in Puerto Rico. Highlights include general wage increases, preserving health care benefits, adding Martin Luther King Day as a paid holiday, increased job security with a guarantee of call percentages, increases to severance pay and the annual Christmas Bonus, and more.

“We can’t express enough how important the support from each of you has been,” the bargaining committee wrote in a letter summarizing the agreement. “Your support gave us the strength to stand up to the company and demand a fair contract! Together, we can achieve so much!”

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Bergen’s Promise

On February 23, CWA Local 1037 workers at Bergen’s Promise voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new three-year contract. The Bargaining Committee negotiated salary increases, higher on-call rates and longevity stipends, a pilot telework program, and more. Bergen’s Promise provides care management services for children with serious behavioral health, substance abuse, or developmental issues and their families.

“I think it’s a great contract. It’s going to help retention and continuity of services for the families we serve. I got a lot of good feedback from workers,” said Cole Campbelle, a Shop Steward and Care Manager at Bergen’s Promise. “I agree, this is going to help keep and recruit workers,” added Meghan Monroe, also a Shop Steward and Care Manager. “lt’s definitely one of the better contracts that recognizes and respects the difficult and important work that we do.”