Pressure Mounts In AFTRA Battle At NBC Stations
By CLAUDIA PESCHIUTTA
Staff Reporter
The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists turned up the heat on NBC executives last week in its effort to organize employees at the network’s recently purchased Spanish-language television stations.
NBC showed no signs of budging but union officials are considering legal action against the network in what could become a battle. Plus, there are other weapons AFTRA can use in the increasingly public standoff.
“We’re still looking at the facts,” said Leslie Simon, director of the Spanish-language media project for the local AFTRA chapter. “We believe that at some point, NBC will realize that their concern for the Latino viewer should also translate into their concern for improving standards for their new Latino employees.”
So far, AFTRA has concentrated on using public pressure to get NBC to place employees at Telemundo stations KVEA-TV (Channel 52) and KWHY-TV (Channel 22) under the same contract as their counterparts at KNBC-TV (Channel 4). But NBC isn’t backing off from its position that AFTRA must hold and win an election sanctioned by the National Labor Relations Board in order to organize at the Telemundo stations.
AFTRA wants the network to provide union officials access to Telemundo employees and remain neutral on the issue of organizing. It also wants to be recognized through a “card check,” a process that allows employees to signal their support for union representation by signing cards rather than going through an actual election.
NBC executives told AFTRA officials at a May meeting that “they’re not willing to negotiate,” Simon said. The two have not met since.
NLRB petition
If NBC stands firm, AFTRA has several options. The union could file an “accretion petition” with the NLRB asking that Telemundo employees be placed in the same bargaining unit with KNBC broadcasters. If working conditions at the stations are determined to be similar enough, the board may approve the petition, negating the need for an election.
But such petitions undergo a “very detailed analysis,” sometimes involving hundreds of hours of testimony, and the decision can be appealed, said a local labor attorney with experience in the entertainment industry. The process could take weeks, if not months, he added.
AFTRA might also consider seeking support from other unions, such as the Screen Actors Guild. That help could come in the form of pickets, work slow-downs or even a boycott of NBC. The union isn’t likely to take such drastic actions unless the situation significantly worsens. If AFTRA, whose past effort to organize Telemundo workers failed, ups the ante like that and loses, it could be tough to recover.
“It’ll hurt them at the bargaining table. It will hurt them in organizing somewhere else,” the attorney said. NBC officials did not return calls for comment.
Simon pointed out the union could also file a grievance with NBC for violating terms of its collective bargaining agreement with AFTRA. But the union is waiting to see what happens as General Electric Co.-owned NBC, which recently acquired Telemundo Communications Group Inc. in a deal worth $2.7 billion, consolidates the operations of KNBC, KVEA and KWHY.
The merger has resulted in a few voluntary and involuntary layoffs, mostly due to efforts to digitize operations. “We made every effort to retain as many NBC and Telemundo employees as possible but, as with any merger, redundancy is created as operations are combined,” NBC said in a statement.
An AFTRA Foundation-sponsored study released last week revealed large pay and benefits gaps between English-language broadcasters and their counterparts at Spanish-language stations in the L.A. area. The study, conducted by UCLA’s Center for the Study of Urban Poverty, addresses Spanish-language broadcasters throughout the market but clearly provides the union ammunition to use against NBC.
It concludes that local Spanish-language broadcasters make far less money, get fewer benefits and are generally unhappy with their working conditions. AFTRA can use the information to support its argument that the network should provide employees at all three local NBC stations with the same benefits and wages.
The union has also enlisted the help of several celebrities, elected officials and labor representatives. The L.A. City Council recently passed a resolution urging NBC to bargain with AFTRA in “good faith.” In addition, the union has gotten nearly 100 notables, ranging from L.A. City Council President Alex Padilla to actor Martin Sheen, to sign an open letter to NBC urging equity for Telemundo employees.
“What they’re trying to do is publicly embarrass NBC and Telemundo,” said the L.A.-based labor attorney. “That is terrible press for NBC and obviously puts extreme pressure on them to try to do something.”
In past interviews, Paula Madison, head of the local NBC stations, has pointed out that KVEA and KWHY generate far less revenue than KNBC. Even if the Telemundo employees organize, it’s “not reasonable” to assume they will receive comparable wages, she said.
Job losses feared
The union says it wants to avoid a vote because elections can be contentious. Also, AFTRA claims that a handful of Telemundo employees lost their jobs for supporting the union during its 1996 campaign, which might make current anchors and reporters afraid to appear pro-union.
“I never hear anyone inside the newsroom talking about the union,” said one local Telemundo employee. “The way I see it is most people there feel intimidated.”
Another employee said most people don’t know what they might get out of joining the union but won’t even ask because “they’re afraid the company would find out and let them go.”
NBC is not required to give AFTRA officials access to its employees during work hours so the union has been trying to reach them in other ways, such as calling them at home. Beyond that, Simon said the union would continue to seek support among community leaders and work with them to come up with a long-term plan. “We’re hoping this won’t take a long time,” she said.
