Word: aftra
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...recent news conference, Conservative Television Commentator William F. Buckley Jr. sonorously explained why he had successfully sued his union, AFTRA, for the right to appear on television even though he chose to quit the labor group. "Paying dues," he asserted, "is a barrier to free speech...
...which represents cameramen, audio and lighting men and other technicians. But now the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists had ordered its members-who include newsmen and the casts of live programs such as soap operas-to honor the IBEW picket lines at CBS broadcast sites. Such stellar AFTRA members as Newsmen Roger Mudd, Dan Rather and Eric Sevareid had pledged "reluctant" compliance. Would lightning strike? Would a faceless CBS management man rocket to instant fame as substitute anchorman, as did the unsung Arnold Zenker, then manager of the CBS news programming, during the AFTRA strike...
...hour before the deadline, the New York State Supreme Court issued a preliminary injunction against the AFTRA boycott. The court ruled that since many top CBS newsmen and performers had personal as well as union contracts with the network, AFTRA'S order would expose them to contract-violation charges. AFTRA appealed the ruling but allowed its members-including those without personal contracts-to continue working. So the same familiar faces read the news (minus Walter Cronkite, recuperating from minor throat surgery); the same dulcet tones analyzed Thanksgiving and Sunday pro football games...
...union hold on the television and radio industry." Replied James F. Sirmons, CBS vice president for personnel and labor relations: "We are certainly not a stalking horse for the industry. We have what we believe are very specific problems." Among those problems was the renewed threat of AFTRA participation in the strike following a new court hearing this week. If AFTRA performers do walk out, CBS will be faced with a dwindling bank of taped episodes in many prime time series. Once those run out, advertising revenues would plunge sharply...
Whatever happens, Arnold Zenker will not be available as a substitute newsman. His stint on CBS during the 1967 strike propelled him into the performing ranks as host of two local talk shows in Boston; an AFTRA member himself now, Zenker would have to honor the IBEW picket line...