CBS has struck a deal with its technical staff, through the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), to extend their contract for three years, including helping find work for IBEW members in CBS’ growing digital businesses.
Besides giving these workers a pay boost, CBS promises to “actively look for opportunities to assign IBEW technicians to perform work for the Internet and emerging media”. CBS says it has already done so by using some IBEW workers at a new facility it is creating in L.A. to distribute content via Qualcomm’s new mobile video service, MediaFlo.
Forbes.com: TV networks, including CBS, typically use unionized employees only sparingly in such ventures, with most of the work going to other employees or new hires, according to Peter Homes, director of the IBEW’s broadcasting and recording department. “This work was getting away,’’ Homes said. “It was not an acceptable way to go forward if you’re trying to get work for your membership.’’