The union said Thursday that it has sent a formal request to the Association of Independent Commercial Producers to initiate a card count by a neutral third party on behalf of thousands of unionizing freelance TV commercial production department workers. If a majority of workers sign the cards, IATSE will be recognized as their collective bargaining agent.
Several of America’s major television news networks have joined a coalition of news organizations that have signed their names to a set of best practices for protecting freelance journalists who work for them. CNN, ABC, NBC and CBS are now official signatories to “Global Safety Principles and Practices,” a list of safety guidelines that specify, among other things, that news organizations treat freelancers the same way they would full-time staffers in cases of kidnap or injury.
ABC, CNN and CBS news executives headed to NBC’s 30 Rockefeller Center headquarters in New York to discuss the safety and well-being of freelance journalists who increasingly serve the network news divisions worldwide.
