CBS3 avoids strike with contract deal; NBC10 walk-off still possible

CBS3 has reached a three-year contract agreement with the union representing the station’s approximately 75 photographers and technicians while NBC10 is preparing temporary replacement workers as a possible strike remains possible for the station, sources told the Philadelphia Business Journal.

The CBS3 deal comes a week after union members voted to strike and a few days before Pope Francis visits Philadelphia, which the union said it was using as bargaining leverage in negotiations, as the station does not want to be without key employees while the historic event takes place.

CBS3 has reached a three-year contract agreement with the union representing the station’s roughly 75 photographers and technicians, a union source confirmed.

“We are pleased that CBS 3 has reached a mutually beneficial agreement with our IATSE employees that allows them to continue working without interruption,” CBS3 said in a statement.

A source with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 804 that represents the CBS3 photographers and technicians said that the union relented on the main sticking point — pay raises. The station was offering 2 percent bumps and the union angled for 3 to 3.5 percent raises.

They settled for 2 percent raises for each of the three years, but, the union source said, management consented in another area.

IATSE will still retain jurisdiction over editing video while in the field, securing jobs that it might have otherwise lost to on-air personalities, producers and writers who are represented by SAG/AFTRA.

“It means more jobs saved,” the union source said. “You don’t strike for money because you never get it back. And if you strike when the Pope is here, you lose out on overtime pay and you never get that back either. I'm not happy about [not getting the 3.5 percent raises], but we had to do what was best for our members.”

The union source said the IATSE members will receive the increase in retro pay back to July 15, when the contract expired. IATSE employees had been working under the terms of the pre-existing deal since that time.

Roughly 65 photographers and technicians at NBC10 notified station management last week that they were exercising their right to terminate a collective bargaining agreement in 10 days and set a Sept. 21 strike date. The workers remain on the job as the two sides are still working on hammering out a deal.

But the station is prepared with a backup plan should the employees strike – they have other, non-union photographers on standby as a precautionary measure, according to multiple sources.

The key sticking point in negotiations for the NBC10 employees has been cutting at least six and as many as 12 union positions and replacing them with cheaper workers. The NBC10 employees are represented by International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal