Longtime ABC Labor Chief Jeff Ruthizer Weighs in on High-Stakes Talks: ‘No Responsible Leader Wants a Strike’
Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer During a labor negotiation, management almost never speaks publicly. The current negotiations with the Writers Guild of America are no exception. The studio chiefs have said almost nothing, and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers has limited itself to a few prepared statements. But Jeff Ruthizer is talking. Ruthizer retired in 2009 as senior vice president of labor relations at ABC. Over a 40-year career, he worked for ABC, NBC, RKO and then ABC again. He negotiated hundreds of contracts and went through numerous strikes, several of them involving NABET, the broadcast technicians’ union.