ABC ASKS COURT TO CURB PICKETS.

Byline: Kim Chipman Bloomberg News

Walt Disney Co.'s ABC television network claims locked-out picketing union workers are interfering with other employees trying to get in and out of its buildings, and wants a court to restrain the pickets.

ABC says the pickets, including camera operators and other broadcast staffers, have harassed crews working for ABC News and ABC TV stations and affiliates, particularly in California. A ruling is expected soon from a state Superior Court in Los Angeles. The locked-out workers are represented by the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians.

About 2,200 ABC workers have been locked out of their jobs since Nov. 2 after staging a surprise 24-hour strike to protest changes in health insurance at ABC and parent company Disney, based in Burbank. ABC says the employees can't return unless they promise not to take such action again without warning the company.

The union has filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, asking that ABC's action be ruled illegal. A decision could come soon on that as well, a union spokesman said.

Workers in five cities have been picketing ABC studios, resulting in several on-air mishaps and missed interviews, including one planned with Vice President Al Gore and more recently, former heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman, who was scheduled to appear Tuesday on ``Good Morning America.''

Foreman declined to cross a picket line, the union said.

The protests have come within earshot of Disney Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael Eisner. On Tuesday, pickets showed up at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, where Eisner was receiving an award from the John E. Anderson Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles. Police barred protesters from entering the building or courtyard.

Representatives from ABC and the union will resume contract negotiations Friday afternoon. A federal mediator will be present during the talks.

The workers claim that ABC is demanding the union employees drop their current health coverage and switch to a new plan. They said the company isn't providing enough information about the care proposal.

ABC and Disney say the union is using the health policy as a way to pressure management to concede to broader labor issues.

The workers, who include technicians, artists and others who don't appear on screen, have been without a contract for two years.

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PHOTO (Color) Michael Eisner

Targeted in Tuesday protest