Ad Slump Altering Dynamic in Labor Talks
By CLAUDIA PESCHIUTTA
Staff Reporter
Paul Worthman traded his career as a history professor to become a labor organizer because he prefers to deal with the past by working in the present.
Today, however, the union negotiator finds that much of his time at the bargaining table is spent rehashing the past with local radio and television station executives.
Worthman, local broadcast director for the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, says that in the current downturn he is working hard just to keep from losing previously captured ground.
“It’s become much more focused on maintaining the existing work standards than it has been in the past,” he said. “A lot, if not all, of the employers are coming to us for give-backs (on established requirements).”
AFTRA is negotiating contracts at five radio stations and holding talks at three network-owned television stations KABC, KCBS and KNBC. News Corp.’s local stations, KCOP and KTTV, and several radio stations likely will be added to the list by the end of spring.
The recession and prolonged slump in ad spending may shift the balance of power in these negotiations toward management. Rising unemployment is likely to make workers less willing to strike or otherwise press for demands that might jeopardize their jobs.
“On the one hand, members are more fearful because of the cutbacks and reductions but, on the other hand, they’re much more concerned and aware of the need to protect standards,” Worthman said. “To overcome that fear, we have to rally larger numbers of people so our members feel that there’s a much larger group involved.”
For example, while AFTRA is negotiating contracts at only two of the eight L.A. radio stations owned by Clear Channel Communications Inc., the union is addressing the company’s use of prerecorded material and out-of-market talent for all six stations it represents. (Two of the stations are not represented by AFTRA.)
Despite the group effort, Clear Channel officials recently told AFTRA that they would not agree to any restrictions on those practices.
Anti-strike sentiment
“The union’s in a weakened position,” said Naomi Berger Davidson, an associate professor of management at Cal State Northridge and a labor relations consultant. “The members don’t particularly want to go on strike.”
Even management concedes as much.
“It would be more difficult for them,” said Val Maki, senior vice president and L.A. market manager for Emmis Communications Corp., owner of KPWR-FM and KZLA-FM. “Any employee, whether they’re union or not, can look around the marketplace and see what’s happening. Almost every company has imposed some sort of wage cut or wage freeze in the last year…not to mention the layoffs.”
Pat Duffy, vice president and general manager of KRTH-FM, one of eight stations Infinity Broadcasting Corp. owns in L..A., said: “Some companies might try to hold them flat or hold them steady…(but) you don’t have people just saying, ‘Screw You.”
Even so, Lawrence Mayberry, one of the three union representatives working under Worthman, says that the recession has made a big difference.
“Whenever you negotiate in a negative climate where jobs are potentially at stake, it casts a pall on the membership,” he said. “It makes it a little more difficult to get a deal done.”
Efforts to reduce costs already are underway at stations throughout the L.A. area. Recent layoffs at Clear Channel have affected several local employees. On-air personalities at ABC’s local radio stations have been asked to forego scheduled wage increases. On the television side, stations are pushing AFTRA to permit the use of non-union personalities on the air, Worthman said.
“Much of what the companies are asking us to do is to agree that the on-air talent can do more work without getting extra compensation for that additional work, or do more work that would enable the companies to reduce the number of staff,” he said.
Employers are seeking “give-backs,” such as the reduction or elimination of personal appearance fees and enhanced severance packages.
With stations still working to recover from the advertising revenue lost during the commercial-free news coverage that followed the Sept. 11 attacks, executives may find it easier to make the argument that they cannot afford to meet union demands and must find ways to reduce costs.
Tactical assertions
“If I were management, that’s what I would be saying, ‘We can’t afford it and there’s no end in sight to our problems,'” Berger Davidson said. “If I were the union, I would negotiate the shortest possible contract I could, because you don’t want to be bound to something for four years if the economy is going to turn around in two (years).”
To prepare for negotiations, Worthman and his staff of five study management proposals, research company data and talk to union members to formulate the union’s demands and counter proposals.
“There’s an old saw in bargaining that you spend more time preparing than you do bargaining,” Worthman said. “This is definitely not a 9-to-5 job.”
