Caption Editors Authorize Strike at NCI

Caption Editors Authorize Strike at NCI

BURBANK, Calif., Nov. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Editors who provide the closed captioning services for broadcast and cable television are in a tough fight for a fair contract with the National Captioning Institute Inc.

The 21 editors, represented by the Local 53 of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians-CWA, have been bargaining for a new agreement since May, but continue to be frustrated by management's demands for a wage freeze and its refusal to consider improvements to workers' health care and pension coverage.

The local announced that members overwhelmingly authorized strike action against NCI. The parties currently are meeting with federal mediator Juan Carlos Gonzalez of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.

Along with a wage increase that at least addresses the rising cost of living, the union is seeking a realistic productivity incentive and has pointed out to management that the workload for editors at the Burbank facility has increased greatly, said Local President Leroy Jackson. "But the past few sessions have been stormy, with management pressing its demands for a wage freeze along with a three- to four-time increase in daily production output," he said. NCI has posted three-year average corporate revenues of $19.4 million per tax year as of the end of 2004, Jackson said.

NABET-CWA also has filed an unfair labor practice charge against NCI, pointing out that the company agreed to jointly work on productivity issues, then moved to adopt changes before the agreed-to committee could even meet.

The NCI editors provide high quality captioning services for broadcast and cable television, home video and DVDs, and government and corporate video programming. This year marks 25 years that closed captioning has been available to benefit deaf and hard of hearing people.

Source: NABET-CWA

CONTACT: Leroy Jackson, President of NABET-CWA Local 53,
+1-818-846-0490

Web site: http://www.cwa-union.org/

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