ABC's Union Lockout Ends

ABC's lockout of 2,400 employees in five cities came to an end Friday.

"We're done. The lockout ends at 5 p.m.," said Tom Donahue, a spokesman for the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, declaring that union members would be returning to their jobs at ABC after 11 weeks on picket lines.

The employees, who include camera operators, producers and other behind-the-scenes workers, will be back on the job within 72 hours, the network said.

"The return of our NABET-represented employees and the closing of what has been a difficult period for all concerned ... is a very welcome development," said ABC president Robert Iger.

NABET members at the network, who have been without a contract since March 1997, had staged a one-day strike over health benefits on Nov. 2. The next day, ABC locked them out of their jobs until they promised advance warning on future job actions. Until this week, the union refused.

Donahue said the final sticking point to a back-to-work agreement centered on "a handful of firings" of NABET members during the lockout. Under terms arrived at Friday, the dismissals will be put to binding arbitration before, not after, the union votes on a contract.

"The union's commitment to those individuals, whose careers and families were threatened, was what held up completion of the agreement," Donahue said.

He credited help from Communications Workers of America President Morton Bahr and Labor Secretary Alexis Herman for helping reach the back-to-work agreement.

The union must now submit the contract offer to its members for a vote within two weeks, Donahue said, with a decision expected within a month.

"The overarching point is that we succeeded in getting our members back inside, off the picket lines, while they consider the company's final offer," he said.

During the lockout, ABC used temporary workers while NABET members walked picket lines at network facilities in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.

Though technical glitches were sometimes evident, the biggest impact on viewers was the refusal of entertainers and Democratic politicians to appear on ABC shows like Nightline, Good Morning America, and This Week.

On Friday, NABET officially called off this boycott.

Written By Frazier Moore, AP Television Writer