ABC HALTS BENEFITS IN BATTLE WITH UNION.Byline: Greg Wiles wile n. 1. A stratagem or trick intended to deceive or ensnare. 2. A disarming or seductive manner, device, or procedure: the wiles of a skilled negotiator. 3. Trickery; cunning. Bloomberg News The Walt Disney Co.-owned ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. is suspending benefits for locked-out union members as a labor dispute between the television network and as many as 2,400 workers in five cities entered its fourth week. ABC sent a letter Monday to the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians saying it was cutting off part of its benefits package on that day. Health benefits will be suspended Monday, it said. The workers were locked out of their jobs Nov. 3 after staging a surprise 24-hour strike the previous day to protest changes in health-care insurance. The company and union resumed negotiations Friday with the help of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) is an independent agency of the U.S. government that seeks to prevent or settle disputes between labor unions and management that affect interstate commerce. and have scheduled another meeting for Monday. The union responded by distributing leaflets at a Disney Store near ABC's headquarters in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of and saying it will picket Disney movies starting with today's Thanksgiving holiday. ``It is unconscionable Unusually harsh and shocking to the conscience; that which is so grossly unfair that a court will proscribe it. When a court uses the word unconscionable to describe conduct, it means that the conduct does not conform to the dictates of conscience. and obscene for a `family friendly' company like Walt Disney to punish its own workers' children, who should remain covered under the company health-care plan,'' said union spokesman Tom Donahue. ``Disney is sorely out of touch with family values if they believe this kind of action is not going to result in public condemnation.'' The union also pledged payment of health-care coverage for locked-out employees. ``We had hoped that this situation would have been resolved,'' said ABC spokeswoman Julie Hoover. ``But when it became apparent that there was no way of knowing when the lockout lockout, intentional closing up of a company, factory, or shop by an employer to prevent employees from working during a strike or labor dispute. The term lockout would end, we made the decision'' to suspend benefits. She said the benefit suspension affects 1,600 staff employees represented by the union. |
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