February 16, 2007

^{We have spent an excruciating week trying to make some progress in the J (Current Affairs Producers) Unit. This Unit has expanded in the last year and shows signs of further expansion in the future, so needs considerable work.}

^{Sticking points include comp time and right of first refusal for more desirable assignments.}

^{We have spent an inordinate amount of time thrashing out where in the contract “the Employer” and “KQED” should be changed to “NCPB.” The Management’s fixation on this trivial change has consumed a large amount of time that could have been spent on substantive issues.}

^{We met face to face only briefly today.}

^{We will be in caucus on next Tuesday and will meet again next Wednesday and Thursday. No meetings are scheduled after that.}

 ^{NABET Local 51 Negotiating Committee}

February 5, 2007

A report of progress today.

Agreements reached on the K (Design) and I (Membership) Appendices today. Some improvements for us and some compromises in both Units. 

At the end of today we gave the management our complete proposal in the J (Current Affairs Producers) Unit.

Meetings next week on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  

NABET Local 51 Negotiating Committee

February 1, 2007 

Three days of quick sand this week.

Discussion of issues in the I (Membership) and K (Design) units have bogged down.  

In Membership the minimum hours of work in the department is the issue.

In Design, we are seeking to incorporate existing practice regarding the web site into the contract.

No further agreements were reached this week. 

Today we received a proposal that would specifically exempt KQED Employees from provisions of the new San Francisco law that requires that all employees, including temps, accrue sick leave.  

Only one day (Monday) of talks scheduled next week. We continue to urge the management to be available for more and longer days of negotiations.

 NABET Local 51 Negotiating Committee

January 24, 2007

We have some progress to report for our three days of negotiations this week.

The C and E appendices are agreed to. A major improvement is a minimum eight hour call (up from four hours) for employees in these Units. We also agreed on provisions clarifying shared jurisdiction between these Units and the G Unit.

Negotiations are scheduled for next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

We’ll begin with the I Unit on Tuesday. 

NABET Local 51 Negotiating Committee

January 12, 2007

Some progress to report after another long week.

We have reached agreement on some important issues in the B, H, E, C, and G units.

We are trying to put the appendices in shape as we go along so we can show them to you as soon after the conclusion of these negotiations as possible.

Only one day (Thursday) for negotiations next week than three or four days a week until the last week of February.

 NABET Local 51 Negotiating Committee

  January 5, 2007

We can report some progress on the Master agreement this week. The grievance and arbitration procedure was settled, for example.  Some areas  of agreement were found in the B Unit (Utility Maintenance) today.

Talk remains mostly productive and positive with steady, although slow, progress.  We have agreed on additional days for negotiation through the last week of February. 

Next meetings will be Tuesday through Friday next week.

 NABET Local 51 Negotiating Committee  

December 21, 2006 

Forward momentum this week.

 Three days of talking wound up with agreement on vacation accrual for all Units and changes in vacation selection in the G Unit. The vacation accrual cap has been increased from two weeks to twice your annual vacation entitlement.

 It’s important to know that vacation selection in other Units remains as is since we didn’t feel there were reasons to make changes at this time.

 Also, everyone, including temps, will henceforth receive triple time for all work on five major holidays. Labor Day has been added to this list. The concept of payback days for those holidays has been disgarded.

 Temps will now receive double time for the minor holidays. Permanent Employees will continue to receive vacation days in exchange for these holidays.

 We go back to negotiations on January third.

 Happy Holidays to everyone.

  NABET Local 51 Negotiating Committee  

December 15, 2006

Some progress to report this week.

We have agreed on refinements to the vacation selection process for the TV Engineers.
We have not yet agreed on changes to vacation accrul and carry over.

There is agreement in principal on some other issues which we will share with you when the agreements are formalized.

We also signed an agreement regarding the status and compensation for our newest members, the KTEH Master Control operators.

We think some positive momentum developed this week.

Negotiations continue on Monday when we will return to work on the Master Agreement.

NABET Local 51 Negotiating Committee

December 7, 2006

We have had three days of meetings this week with little to show for them.

We talked about the KTEH master control operators. Following their unanimous vote to join NABET on November 22, the NRLB certified them as members of the G Unit (TV Engineers). The Management has refused to recognize that all of the provisions of the G Appendix thus apply and wants to bargain individual provisions of the contract.

Today they gave us a  proposal for the G appendix, the major features of which were changing the name of the employer to NCPB in several paragraphs and resurrecting the idea of separate seniority lists in the G Unit. They ended today’s meeting half an hour early than previously agreed.

More talks are scheduled for December 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21 and January 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12. All sessions will be held in conference room I (Finance).

NABET Local 51 Negotiating Committee  

November 9, 2006

The vote today was overwhelmingly in favor of giving this Committee authority to call a strike at KQED should it become necessary.  It is important to remember that no strike is imminent and our intention is to avoid one if at all possible.

Thanks to everyone for attending the meetings and for voting.

Please keep watching the bulletin boards for new negotiating dates as they are agreed upon.

NABET Local 51 Negotiating Committee  

November 7, 2006

More tough sledding today – four days spent so far on the Radio Unit – with little to show for it. We have managed to preserve the status quo in the face of Management proposals to reduce jurisdiction and staffing obligations and outsourcing engineering maintenance work.

As we have mentioned previously, we have been  unable to agree on negotiating dates past today because the management continues to resist scheduling on a realistic basis.

Working without a contract inspires a sense of urgency on our side and ought to inspire a similar passion on the other side of the table. So far it hasn’t.

This will be a major topic at our General Membership Meetings tomorrow and at our Strike Authorization meetings on Thursday.

NABET Local 51 Negotiating Committee  

October 26, 2006

We spent three very frustrating days discussing issues in radio this week.  Although some slight progress was made, issues of jurisdiction and job security remain problematic to the management.

A couple of times today the management brought up the issue of extending the expired contract.  We don't think a contract extension is appropriate until the management demonstrates a proper sense of urgency toward these negotiations.  Our last scheduled date for talks is November 7th.  With a lapsed contract the management has proposed a schedule that includes a one-week hiatus and then one day on some weeks and no more than two days on others through December.  We have offered to be available around the clock if it would speed things up.

You may have heard that KQED members have approved the bylaws changes sought by the management.  (Read the press release at KQED.org)  As you may know, the most egregious of the changes was the abandonment of KQED's historic commitment to an elected board of directors.

However late today the management committee demonstrated some residual faith in democracy by stating they would be seeking an NLRB represenn tation election involving a group of KTEH employees who have sought NABET represenstation.  We are certainly comfortable with such an election and have no doubt about the outcome.

Also on the election front, plans are  finalized for a strike authorization vote about which you may alread have heard from your Shop Steward.  Watch your email and bulletin board

NABET Local 51 Negotiating Committee   

October 12, 2006

 Two more days of tough sledding this week.

 We spent most of the time discussing jurisdictional questions in the Floor Directors Unit. Near the close of today’s session management agreed to a proposal of ours on the upgrading of Floor Directors when operating graphics devices and another on the use of outside experts in that department.

 We are unable to understand why management so far refuses to add further days to our meeting schedule or to continue meeting beyond 5:00PM on any day. (Does the KQED Mission Statement still advise us to “adopt a sense of urgency?”)

 There is only one more day of negotiations scheduled before the expiration of the contract on October 24^th.

 NABET Local 51 Negotiating Committee

September 28, 2006

 Today we concluded the sixth day of negotiations with little to show for it.

 The management has given us some  proposals involving changes in the grievance procedure that would lead to unnecessary and costly arbitrations. They have also proposed substantial changes in worker classification in membership, including the  elimination of our staffing guarantee in the Unit.

 It is frustrating that the management seems not to feel any sense of urgency regarding these negotiations. Today they cancelled the session scheduled for Wednesday, October 4^th. We will use this opportunity for a caucus day.

 As you know, the present contract expires on October 24^th. Today the management asked us to consider an extension to the contract. We are not disposed to agree to this given the present reptilian pace of the negotiations.

 NABET Local 51 Negotiating Committee

September 14, 2006

Negotiations were scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday this week, but early on Tuesday the Management abruptly cancelled the Wednesday session. We used the day for further work on the NABET proposals.

Today’s session was largely occupied with discussion of modifications in the grievance procedure. The Management is proposing to shorten the time for co-operative attempts to resolve grievances, forcing them into arbitration within thirty days of filing. We believe a lengthier time for discussion of the grievances between the Management and Union serves everyone better.

We were disappointed that the Management team was only available to meet until 2:00 PM today.

Negotiations are scheduled next for September 26^th,   27^th and 28^th.  We have proposed an additional nine days for meetings before the contract deadline, October 24th.

NABET Local 51 Negotiating Committee

August 31, 2006

This afternoon we concluded the first three days of bargaining with the Northern California Public Broadcasting management.

We opened the session on Tuesday morning by offering a three-year extension of the previous contract with 6% wage increase each year. The Management responded by presenting what it described as a comprehensive package that they characterized as “simplifications” and “clarifications” of the present contract.

The package appeared to us to be the usual demands for reduction of jurisdiction and, in at least one area, a drastic reduction in compensation that we have received in years past.

Over the next two days we offered our complete proposals for the Master Agreement and most of the Appendices. The Management team repeatedly nagged that they could not respond to our proposals until they had all of them. We suggested that we discuss the proposals already on the table.

We concluded with a tense session this afternoon in which it became clear that we should be prepared for long and difficult negotiations.

We next meet them on Wednesday and Thursday, September 13th and 14th.