National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians
The National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, the Broadcasting and Cable Television Workers Sector of the Communications Workers of America (NABET-CWA) is a labor union representing employees in television, radio, film, and media production.The union was first organized in 1934 as the Association of Technical Employees (ATE), at first covering employees involved in network television and radio; the union was created by NBC as a way to prevent its own workers from joining the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.The union's name changed to NABET in 1940 and was affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in 1951.In 1952 Canadian radio, television and film workers were entered into the NABET fold.In 1987, NABET lost a 118-day strike against NBC, losing 200 union-member jobs, accepting a "watered-down contract", costing the union $700,000 a month in strike benefits, and costing strikers an estimated $44 million in lost wages.