AFTRA Detroit Broadcast News

• Personal Service Contract (PSC) - AFTRA’s legal staff is available to review the terms of your personal service agreements free of charge. Please take advantage of this expert service when negotiating you are in negotiating your personal service contract.

• Michigan Lottery contract ratified - The Lottery bargaining unit hits a home run.  The contract was re-negotiated in record time and contained a number of improvements that the bargaining unit talent was thrilled about. The unit received a healthy increase in employer contribution to the AFTRA Health & Retirement Fund, and to top it off talent received a $1000 signing bonus—as one member put it—we learned long ago that if we stick together we obtain the best contract possible. We all showed up at the table to participate in the process. Management could see that we are very interested in negotiating our contract and at that moment it was the most important thing.  If we appeared to be divided in any way we would never have achieve all of the gains over the years. Lesson learned—Unity pays off.

• Fox-TV contract still being negotiated - The unit has been re-negotiating its contract since October 2006. AFTRA will continue talks in the area of new technologies. 

• CBS Radio - WWJ/WXYT station contract opens for re-negotiation this year 2007.  Members are already gearing up for the 2007 talks. The AFTRA bargaining committee members were faced with many challenges during the last round of negotiations, but it was the solidarity of the unit members that helped its negotiation team forge through almost a year at the table before reaching an agreement. One member voiced that bargaining has historically been difficult and challenging. A fair contract only encourages employees to work with more enthusiasm and commitment in helping the stations boost ratings and overall performance. Pat Bacheller, WWJ shop steward resigned his position at the station. Pat has accepted an opportunity and will be anchoring WDET a public radio station. Pat will be greatly missed by his colleagues and AFTRAns.