The National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, the Broadcasting and Cable Television Workers Sector of the Communications Workers of America (NABET-CWA) is a

labor union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

representing employees in television, radio, film, and media production. A division of the

Communications Workers of America The Communications Workers of America (CWA) is the largest communications and media labor union in the United States, representing about 700,000 members in both the private and public sectors (also in Canada and Puerto Rico). The union has 27 loc ...

(CWA), NABET represents about 12,000 workers organized into about 35

local union A local union (often shortened to local), in North America, or union branch (known as a lodge in some unions), in the United Kingdom and other countries, is a local branch (or chapter) of a usually national trade union. The terms used for sub-bran ...

s ("locals"). The union was first organized in 1934 as the Association of Technical Employees (ATE), at first covering employees involved in network television and radio; the union was created by

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

as a way to prevent its own workers from joining the

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) is a trade union, labor union that represents approximately 820,000 workers and retirees in the electricity, electrical industry in the United States, Canada, Guam, Panama, Puerto Rico, an ...

. The ATE would soon expand to other radio networks, and by 1937, ATE also included independent radio and television stations. In 1939 the ATE achieved a

union shop In labor law, a union shop, also known as a post-entry closed shop, is a form of a union security clause. Under this, the employer agrees to either only hire labor union members or to require that any new employees who are not already union mem ...

clause. The union's name changed to NABET in 1940 and was affiliated with the

Congress of Industrial Organizations The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of Labor unions in the United States, unions that organized workers in industrial unionism, industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Originally created in ...

(CIO) in 1951. In 1952 Canadian radio, television and film workers were entered into the NABET fold. In 1965, NABET expanded to include workers in the film industry. In 1968, Canadian NABET locals achieved local autonomy followed in 1974 by full autonomy. These locals are now part of

Unifor Unifor is a Canadian general trade union founded in 2013 as a merger of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) and Communications, Energy and Paperworkers unions. It consists of 310,000 workers, and associate members in industries including manufactu ...

. In 1987, NABET lost a 118-day strike against

, losing 200 union-member jobs, accepting a "watered-down contract", costing the union $700,000 a month in strike benefits, and costing strikers an estimated $44 million in lost wages. In 1994, NABET merged with the CWA and changed its name to NABET-CWA. In 2021, NABET-CWA helped organize two units of tech and digital workers in

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

's Digital Media, Communications, and Audience Growth divisions as a part of the Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE-CWA) initiative to organize tech workers in the US and Canada.

Presidents

George Smith, president (1957–?)

James Harvey Brown James Harvey Brown (April 26, 1906 – July 10, 1995) was a City Council member in Los Angeles, California, between 1959 and 1964 and then municipal court judge in that city from 1964 to 1985. Biography Brown was born on April 26, 1906, in Jame ...

, president (?–?) Its current officers are Sector President Charles G. Braico and Sector Vice President Lou Marinaro, both elected on June 6, 2015.

References

External links

* {{authority control Entertainment industry unions Communications Workers of America Trade unions established in 1934 Congress of Industrial Organizations 1934 establishments in the United States Online mass media companies of the United States