Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/untv1vsg062708.html
UNITED NATIONS, June 29 -- With the threat of a strike or lock-out looming over UN Television, new information has emerged about the shaky financial condition of the company chosen by the UN to provide the service. National Mobile Television, once described as one of the largest remote production vendors in the United States, announced layoffs in April 2008, closing offices and preparing to put itself up for sale. Its subsidiary Venue Services Group, which directly hires those who work in UN Television, the following month closed its office in East Rutherford, New Jersey and moved in with The Systems Group in Hoboken.
VSG's Dave Shaw claimed that "this is not a sale of the company in any way, but a strategic alliance." But the declining credit rating and shifting corporate structure of its UN TV vendor should have triggered an inquiry by the UN. Instead, the UN staffer in charge of overseeing the contract has been allowed by Andrew Nye to go to Beijing to work for NBC on the upcoming Olympics, well-placed sources tell Inner City Press.
VSG's contract with those who produce UN TV expires on June 30, as do the entry passes of the UN audio visual engineers, and negotiations for a new contract are going nowhere for now. The drop-dead hour is 6 p.m. on Monday.
Update of June 29 -- Well-placed sources tell Inner City Press that VSG's Dave Shaw was planning to bring 10 "scabs" into the UN to give them a tour of the facility -- and that this was approved by the UN. The UN TV-ers responded by voluntarily coming to work on Sunday morning. After so many of them entered the building, UN Security started refusing more of them entry. After hearing of such a strong showing, VSG called off their "scab" tour. When and if this so called tour will happen is not clear. There are threats the UN will deactivate the UN TV-ers' passes as of Sunday 29 June at midnight, ostensibly out of concern about sabotage of technical equipment. That would interfere with any UN TV on Monday, when VSG is slated to make an offer. Watch this site.
And see, www.innercitypress.com/untv1vsg062708.html
