COVID-19/Coronavirus Continued Salary Payment UPDATE 3-27-20
NBC had informed the Union that those members either Daily Hire or Staff who are told not to report to work will be paid their normal shift for two weeks. We were just informed this has now been extended to three weeks.
DirecTV The Union and the Company have reached an agreement where NABET Represented DirecTV Employees will receive a cash award of 20% above their hourly rate for hours actually worked beginning March 27. The company may cancel this agreement upon written notice to the Union, although the parties intend to allow the cash award program to remain in place as necessary to allow the company to fulfill it's essential public functions.
Disney NE&O has informed the Union that any Daily Hire members who have worked 100 days in the last year and are told not to report to work by no fault of their own, will be paid their regular shift until April 5, 2020. After that time, the Company will reevaluate the situation.
KTTV/FOX HUB the Union has reached an agreement with the Company. The Company will be giving each employee Premium Pay of $75 per day for each day they work on site or in the field, for the period of Monday, March 16 to at least Sunday, April 12, 2020.
FOX Sports the Company will compensate NABET-CWA Local 53 members who work regularly at the Pico lot and have been told not to report to work. Payment will be made retroactively from Monday, March 16 to at least Sunday, April 12, 2020. Employees should submit their time cards to their Supervisor for processing. Additionally, FOX Sports will make contractual contributions to the Flex and CWA 401k plans. These payments will be calculated as if you actually worked and therefore will be subject to regular taxation and any other deduction(s). Payments will be made in accordance with your normal payroll schedule. If you have already filed for unemployment, please make sure you communicate these wages to the state unemployment office so they can adjust accordingly. Yesterday the Union was notified that effective Monday, March 16 to at least Sunday, April 12, 2020 the company will be providing employees Premium pay of $75 for each day they work on site.
If you have any questions about the above information, please call Steve Ross at (805) 559-2220.
CARES Act - Informational Sheet
Summary of CARES Act prepared by CWA:
After the Families First Coronavirus Act (H.R. 6201) was signed into law, legislators began working on a third package to continue to help working families during the crisis. Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans introduced the S.3548, the CARES Act, which fell short in addressing the needs of workers. The bill provided a bailout for corporations with no protections for workers, inadequate resources for hospital and healthcare providers, and no economic relief for struggling families. Thankfully, House and Senate Democrats fought against this corporate windfall and pushed them to move legislation that would actually benefit workers. The result of these negotiations is a bill that still leaves a number of critical needs for workers unmet and CWA is committed to continue fighting for those vital protections and investments. But this legislation, because of Democrats in Congress, provides significant actual relief for working families. Specifically, the bill includes:
Airlines
● $25 billion in grants and $25 billion in loans to the aviation industry
● A requirement that airlines maintain payroll, wages and hours through at least September
● Includes language that protects collective bargaining agreements from forced changes if an airline receives aid
● Prohibits airlines from raising executive pay or engaging in stock buybacks or dividends through September 2021
● This will keep thousands of CWA members employed through a crushing blow to the industry
Health Care Investments
● Includes a large investment in hospitals, health system and state and local governments in this agreement, to give them the resources they desperately need during this emergency
● $100 billion for grants to hospitals to cover the costs of unreimbursed health care treatment during the crisis
● $1.5 billion to state and local governments for the purchase of Personal Protective Equipment and other supplies
● $16 billion for the Strategic National Stockpile for critical medical supplies, personal protective equipment, and life-saving medicine
● $3.5 billion to advance construction, manufacturing, and purchase of vaccines and therapeutics
● Provides $1 billion in funding to purchase supplies through the Defense Production Act
Tax Credits for Companies Maintaining Payroll
● Provides companies with a payroll tax credit of 50% for the first $10,000 of wages paid to employees while not actually providing services to the company due to COVID-19
Individual Payments
● Full one-time payment of $1,200 if available to individuals making up to $75,000 or couples making $150,000, then decreases on a sliding scale
○ Payments are only to those with social security numbers and those who filed a 2018 tax return
● Another credit of $500 per child is also included
Unemployment Insurance
● Expands and improves the unemployment insurance program to provide much more generous benefits and ensure it covers all workers, whether they work for businesses small, medium or large, along with self-employed and workers in the gig economy
● Unemployment checks will be increased by $600/week for four months
● Provides 13 extra weeks of unemployment for workers who remain unemployed after their benefits run out due to the pandemic
Mortgage/Rental Assistance
● Prohibits foreclosures on federally-backed mortgage loans for 60 days
● Provides up to 180 days of forbearance for borrowers of a federally-backed mortgage loan who have experienced a financial hardship related to the COVID-19 emergency.
● Prohibits eviction proceedings from starting for 120 days on any federally-backed properties
● Includes more than $7 billion for affordable housing and homelessness aid programs
● Any lender who agrees to forbearance or modification as the result of the crisis is required to submit a borrower’s status as “current” to credit reporting agencies so that borrowers don’t face harm to their credit as a result of this relief
Student Loans
● Eliminates income tax on student loan repayment assistance by an employer
● Waives the institutional matching requirement for campus-based aid programs
● Makes changes to work study, Pell Grants, and federal student loans to ensure that students are not penalized financially or in terms of eligibility if they are unable to complete their academic year due to the crisis
● Defer student loan payments, principal, and interest for 6 months for federal student loan borrowers
State/Local Government Assistance
● Contains a number of other forms of assistance in addition to hospital/health care investments
● $30.75 billion in grants to help local school systems
● Those funds are in addition to a $150 billion fund to States, Territories, and Tribal governments to use for expenditures incurred due to the public health emergency with respect to COVID-19 in the face of revenue declines, allocated by population proportions, with a minimum of $1.25 billion for states with relatively small populations
Additional Corporate Aid
● Much of the attention on this bill has gone to the direct aid to large corporations
● The bill still includes $500 billion in assistance to companies (including the airline aid), but there are now additional conditions put on these loans and loan guarantees
● Bans stock buybacks and dividend payments for the term of the government assistance plus 1 year on any company receiving a government loan from the bill;
● Requires all loan recipients to keep at least 90% of employees on payroll
● Includes language that protects collective bargaining agreements from forced changes
● Only companies who have the majority of their employees in the U.S. will be eligible
● Caps executive pay at companies that receive assistance under the bill
● Requires weekly public reporting
● Prohibits businesses controlled by the President, Vice President, Members of Congress, and Cabinet Members from receiving loans or investments from Treasury programs.
● While insufficient, these conditions make it more likely that the aid will actually protect workers and jobs.
Elections
● $400 million in election assistance for the states to help prepare for the 2020 election cycle, including to increase the ability to vote by mail, expand early voting and online registration, and increase the safety of voting in-person by providing additional voting facilities and more poll- workers.
Senate Democrats have negotiated a much improved deal for working families, but more needs to be done to ensure that all workers can survive the crisis. For example, many workers remain without paid sick leave and paid family leave, OSHA protections are inadequate for our health care workers and other frontline workers, more needs to be done to ensure that health care workers have the equipment they need, and we need more support to ensure elections go forward smoothly and safely if the crisis is still ongoing this Fall.
COVID-19/Coronavirus Information
NBC COVID-19/Coronavisus Information
NBC COVID-19/Coronavirus Information
FOX Sports COVID-19/Coronavisus Information
FOX COVID-29/Coronavirus Information
Univision COVID-19/Coronavisus Information
Univision COVID-19/Coronavirus Information
KTTV COVID-19/Coronavisus Information
15 Year Wait for Justice
More Than a 15 Year Wait for Justice
CNN to Pay Settlement
See Article Link Below:
FOX Sports - Ratification Results
The FOX Sports Contract Ratification Vote was counted Tuesday, November 5, 2019 and the Contract was ratified.
MOA's - FOX Sports & FOX Digital (Disney)
Memorandum of Understanding - FOX Sports
Memorandum of Understanding - FOX Digital (Disney)
Death Benefit
When was the last time you updated your Death Benefit Form with Local 53? If you have recently been married, had children, etc. you may want to update the form in your file. If so please click the link below to print out a new form, fill it out with updated information and return it by mail to the Local 53 office.
Click below for a Death Benefit Form.
Studio Backlot
We have again renewed our agreement with Class on Demand to provide union members access to their extensive library of online, video-based training courses.
Class on Demand is also providing three months membership to their brand new training site, StudioBacklot, to every member in good standing.
Sign up for your FREE access today.
https://www.studiobacklot.tv/nabet-cwa/
NABET-CWA Jobs Website
Click Below to check out the new NABET-CWA Jobs Website!
If you are looking for work you can post your information here and look for Job postings!
Latest Events
| NBC Shop Steward Meeting-CANCELLED Thu, Apr 02, 6:00pm - |
| FOX/KTTV/KCOP Shop Stewards Mtg.-CANCELLED Tue, Apr 07, 7:00pm - |
| E Board Meeting-VIRTUAL Thu, Apr 09, 12:00pm - |
| KMEX Arbitration 19-03-POSTPONED Wed, Apr 15, 10:00am - 3:00pm |
| KMEX Shop Stewards Meeting-CANCELLED Wed, Apr 15, 1:00pm - |
| KMEX Arbitration 19-03-POSTPONED Thu, Apr 16, 10:00am - 3:00pm |
| KVEA Shop Steward Meeting-CANCELLED Wed, Apr 22, 1:00pm - |
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