NBC 25 News strike??

[matt1]

When did NBC 25 News had its news strike & showed informercials (paid programming) back then in what year??

[Dudley]

Think it was 88.

[sinklair]

One of the first things Sinclair did when it merged WSMH with WEYI was to push out the union (UAW). It’s unlikely to come back.

[Dudley]

Wasn't worth a shit anyway. Union (UAW) was only interested in a contract settlement for their bonus and not for us!

[ShempLives]

When I was a Master Control Switcher at WEYI-TV from April to November 1980, the station was a "union shop" with the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET), Local 46. Hiring in with an hourly wage of $3.35/hour, the union contract had my income increased to $3.60/hour starting May 1, 1980. (Minimum wage was then $3.10/hour.) The union's piece of the action was 5% of my wage plus a $50.00 initiation fee. We were told that Local 46's initiation fee was the lowest in the country and if one was hired at another NABET unionized employer the fee wouldn't apply again as it was paid. As time progressed I heard rumblings from my co-workers of a strike when the contract would end on April 30, 1981. As I left on November 20, 1980; I wondered what would happen when the agreement expired. During the summer of 1981 I returned to the Flint area behind a steam locomotive powered train and spotted a Channel 12 news team covering the event. ("25 TV" was too cheap to send anyone to cover anything on a weekend.) I asked them what happened at WEYI on and after May 1, 1981. The answer: "They de-certified the union." As a consequence of my resigning while the contract was still in effect, I have a lifetime status as an Inactive Member with NABET, AFL-CIO-CLC.