Special Thanks to Ken Grody Ford, Metro Flooring and Kearny Mesa Toyota for supporting Local 54 members in the effort to reach a fair and equitable agreement with KGTV.

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This website has been honored with CWA's "Members Choice" Award. CWA is "The Union for the Information Age," representing 700,000 workers in communications, media, airlines, manufacturing and public service.

KGTV Implements More Proposals; Union Files ULP Charge

KGTV has implemented more of what the Union considers regressive contract proposals under the guise of "moving forward" and NABET-CWA has filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board. In announcing the move to employees, KGTV General Manager Ed Quinn said, "We’re making these moves to improve our ability to serve our customers and constituents during a time of great change in our industry." Quinn scheduled a series of staff meetings to discuss the move, adding "I hope to hear additional ideas you have on how we can move forward as one station."

Local 54 President Dennis Csillag said the move is more about union-busting than any real change. "KGTV's decision is more about politics, legal maneuvers and psychological warfare against our members than it is about moving the station forward. This does nothing to bring us closer to our goal of a fair and equitable contract and does nothing to make the Company appear that it is negotiating in good faith. The use of psychological warfare has the intent of causing friction between members (divide-and-conquer) and attempting to convince them to bust the Union. While it has cost the Company literally millions over the last two years to make happen, we know our members are smarter than that! You don't hire a law firm that specializes in union-busting if you want to negotiate a contract. The best way to move forward as ONE station is a fair and equitable agreement that works for both the Company AND the Employees," said Csillag.

The Union requested that a Union officer be present whenever the Company discusses the terms and conditions of employment. Local 54 Vice-President Robert Buchanan said the first of Quinn's meetings provided few answers to employee's questions. "Ed seemed focused on talking about vague concepts and continuing the trend of avoiding the real issues by taking potshots at the Union. It was a good opportunity for the non-union employees present to experience the Company's attitude and many of those employees praised the contributions of our members," said Buchanan. While the Company is busy declaring itself good and the Union bad, the NLRB has upheld charges that KGTV: unlawfully threatened and intimidated Employees; unlawfully observed (photographing and videotaping) Union activity; unlawfully interfered with handbilling; unlawfully used surveillance cameras without first negotiating with the Union; and the Board has determined that the appropriate remedy for KGTV's refusal to bargain with the Union over layoffs is to return 3 NABET-CWA-represented Employees to work with full back pay. KGTV has refused and a hearing is scheduled for July 28, 2008. There have been no charges upheld against the Union.

Negotiating Committee member Frank Castillo, Jr. says the Company has lost more credibility. "At the table they told us they couldn't work with us because they couldn't have union and non-union employees working side-by-side. Now Ed implies this implementation will allow union and non-union employees to work side-by-side. Let's be honest. We've been working side-by-side for over 50 years and it was a success. This is just union-busting," said Castillo, Jr.

Csillag reminds Local 54 members that they are not alone: "Local 54 has the full support of CWA, NABET-CWA and the San Diego County labor community, representing over 120,000 local working families. Derrecke Thompson — our convention delegate just back from Las Vegas — was amazed at the number of members around the country who were aware of McGraw-Hill's union-busting and who offered their solidarity and support," said Csillag.

Related Links
Background Info | Pictures & Video | 10NewsUnfair.com | McGraw-HillUnfair.com

Convention Delegates Elect Officers; Endorse Obama; Support Local 54

It's a wrap for the NABET-CWA Conference and 70th Annual CWA Convention in Las Vegas.

Declaring that "this is our time," CWA President Larry Cohen called on delegates to imagine life a year from now – a nation led by President Barack Obama, the Employee Free Choice signed into law and affordable, universal health care within reach. "This is our time and it rests on three things – our unity, our strategies and our focus," Cohen said, calling on the nearly 2,500 delegates, alternates and guests attending the Las Vegas convention to return to their locals and inspire members, retirees and families to work harder, and dream bigger than ever.

The promise of the Employee Free Choice Act was the convention's recurring theme, evoked by everyone at the podium from workers fighting to organize to global labor leaders. "We need to pass the Employee Free Choice Act so that workers like me can join a union without running through a meat grinder of employer intimidation," said Roger Reece, a worker leading the fight for CWA recognition at Verizon Business in New York and New England.

The spirited convention, which included a live teleconference with Barack Obama, also served as a farewell celebration for retiring Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling, who joined CWA 57 years ago as a telephone operator at Ohio Bell. In her final convention speech as a national officer, Easterling urged delegates not to underestimate their power to change the world. "Brothers and sisters, our voice has never been more important than it is today," she said. "During the past seven years, the Bush administration took dead aim at all of us in this room. Well guess what? We're still standing, stronger than ever. And together we can once again make history by electing Barack Obama president and changing America."

In a satellite hookup from the campaign trail in Albuquerque, N.M., Obama thanked delegates for passing a resolution endorsing him. He pledged his full support not only for Employee Free Choice, but for a federal government that once again values workers and workers' rights. "It's not just that this administration hasn't been fighting for you – they've actually tried to stop you from fighting for yourselves," he said. "This is the most anti-labor administration in our memory. They don't believe in unions. They don't believe in organizing. They've packed the labor relations board with their corporate buddies."

In an era of rapid globalization, speakers said Employee Free Choice will help bring America's badly eroded organizing and bargaining rights closer to what workers enjoy in most of the rest of the developed world. In addition to Europe and Japan, even such countries as South Africa and Brazil beat the United States — by far — in the percentage of workers with collective bargaining rights.

"I find it tragic that the world's most powerful economy has the worst collective bargaining coverage of any advanced nation," Philip Jennings, president of Union Network International (UNI) told delegates. He was followed by Francisco Hernandez Juarez, head of the Mexican Telephone Workers Union, who looked toward November and said, "We know and we hope you will bring to power a progressive government in your country." By electing Obama and enacting Employee Free Choice, he said America will inspire Mexico and other countries that have even fewer workers' rights now than the United States.

Delegates re-elected CWA President Larry Cohen for a second three-year term and elected Jeff Rechenbach as Secretary-Treasurer to succeed Easterling. In district meetings, delegates elected Vice-Presidents whose responsibilities include coordination of bargaining, organizing and other activities in their districts. Along with the three top officers, Sector Vice-Presidents — including NABET-CWA's John Clark — and four at-large members, these officers make up CWA's Executive Board. Tony Bixler was re-elected as Vice-President of District 9, which covers California, Nevada and Hawaii.

Derrecke Thompson represented Local 54 at the Conference and Convention. This is the second time Thompson — a 13-year Employee — has been elected as a Local Convention Delegate. He also spent 3 terms as an Operations Shop Steward.

According to Thompson, "There is a strong Union spirit here and everyone is aware of KGTV's union-busting. One of the major themes of the NABET-CWA Conference was technology and training. We worked on new training opportunities and I encourage all Local 54 members to take advantage of them." NABET-CWA President John Clark and Vice-President Jim Joyce were both elected to new 3-year terms and the delegates passed a resolution identifying McGraw-Hill and KGTV as union-busters. The resolution dedicates full support to Local 54 members and urges people to visit 10NewsUnfair.com.

CWA is "The Union For The Information Age" and our Local 54 website was honored with the CWA "Members Choice" award.

Related Links
Read Larry Cohen's Remarks | Read Barack Obama's Remarks | Watch Barack Obama's Speech

Emmy Shines On Local 54 Members and 10News "Family"

Despite 2007 being a low point in KGTV's otherwise rich history, Local 54 members continued their tradition of excellent performance and have been rewarded with an Emmy Award. The 34th Annual Pacific Southwest Emmy Awards were held on June 14th at the La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad.

JW August, Kristen Castillo, Felicia Kit, Christian Cazares, Elizabeth Sanchez, Bruce Baker, Jacqui Nguyen, Heidi Ortiz, Steve Atkinson, Joaquin Elizondo, Lauren Reynolds and Michael Gonzalez received an award in the Magazine Program category for "10News I-Team Special." Former 10News anchor Elizabeth Sanchez also received an Emmy in the "Political/Government category for "Fire Technology." Sanchez is the new host of the award-winning PBS childcare information series "A Place of Our Own." 10News anchor/reporter Lauren Reynolds picked up the coveted award in the category of "Journalistic Enterprise" and was honored with a total of 6 Emmy awards at the celebration. Kyle Majors picked up an award in the Arts/Entertainment category.

Local 54 member Steve Lyew, along with Leila Niehuser and former staffer Bill Roland, were nominated in the news promotion category for the image campaign "Outsmart Your Commute: Traffic Campaign."

10News staffers took note when KNSD-TV management accepted the award for their Morning Newscast and referred to the entire staff as "family." Local 54 President Dennis Csillag said, "It appears you enjoy greater success when you consider the staff as family instead of interchangeable pieces." Local 54 Vice-President Robert Buchanan offered congratulations: "The NABET-CWA Executive Board congratulates all Local 54 members — and the rest of what we recognize as the 10News "family" — who worked on both the nominated and winning pieces," said Buchanan.

Local 54 members John Suarez (10-4 San Diego: Day at the Races and San Diego Hoy: Immigration Special) and Joaquin Elizondo (San Diego Hoy: Immigration Special) picked up Emmy awards at the 2007 ceremony. Click here for the complete list of 2008 Emmy Award winners.

Quick Hits

NBC Universal Buys The Weather Channel. NBC Universal, Bain Capital and The Blackstone Group have reached a deal to acquire The Weather Channel properties from Landmark Communications. The Weather Channel will be operated as a separate entity, based in Atlanta, with management services to be provided by NBC Universal. Financial terms weren't disclosed, but a person familiar with the matter said the purchase price was $3.5 billion in cash. The transaction includes The Weather Channel Networks, seen in more than 97% of cable television homes (96 million households) in the U.S.; The Weather Channel Interactive, which includes weather.com, with nearly 40 million unique visitors per month; and Weather Services International, a global leader in weather forecasting, with more than 5,500 clients worldwide. The transaction is expected to be completed by year-end and is subject to regulatory approvals. Jeff Zucker, President and CEO, NBC Universal, said: "This will further position NBC Universal as the leading provider of news, information and weather, both online and on television. This plays to our strengths in producing and distributing high-quality content across multiple platforms." Upon completion of the transaction, NBC Universal's news and information assets will include NBC News, MSNBC, CNBC and The Weather Channel.

SAG Gets Final Offer. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) issued a "final offer" last week to the Screen Actrs Guild (SAG), a few hours before the current contract expired. SAG issued a statement saying it would study the industry's 43-page proposal and "prepare a response to management once that analysis is complete." Little is expected to occur before SAG leaders learn whether they have succeeded in a bid to scuttle a separate labor deal brokered by SAG's smaller sister union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA). SAG said the latest studio proposal "appears to be generally consistent" with the AFTRA deal, which SAG leaders said was a weak compromise undermining their own bargaining position. "This offer does not appear to address some key issues important to actors," SAG executive director and chief negotiator Doug Allen added in the statement. The labor talks, which began in mid-April, hit some of the same stumbling blocks that led Hollywood writers to walk off the job months ago, including clashes over how union talent should be paid for work created especially for the Internet. SAG leaders have downplayed the likelihood of staging their own strike, but the industry already has slipped into "de facto strike" mode as major studios halt film production in anticipation of costly labor disruptions. The producers alliance said its package was worth more than $250 million in additional compensation to SAG members and was patterned after previous deals negotiated with Hollywood writers, directors and AFTRA. SAG leaders have launched an all-out campaign to persuade their 40,000 members who belong to both actors unions to reject AFTRA's tentative TV contract in a ratification vote that comes to a close on July 8th. While film production by major studios has virtually ground to a halt, SAG has signed special waivers with over 300 independent producers allowing actors to continue working for those companies in the event of a walkout. Production on many TV shows has plowed ahead as well. The last time Hollywood actors staged a strike over their main film and TV contract was in 1980, a three-month walkout to establish terms for pay-TV and video cassette production. The Writers Guild of America strike cost the Los Angeles-area economy alone $3 billion.

Media Revenue To Hit $2.2 trillion by 2012. Global entertainment and media revenue is forecast rising by an average of 6.6% a year to $2.2 trillion by 2012, boosted by advertising-supported digital and mobile media and an explosion in the adoption of broadband. According to the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) annual forecast, advertising tied to the burgeoning interest in watching videos on the Internet and on devices such as Apple's iPod, will account for 24% of growth in the sector and is projected to grow fastest at a compound annual growth rate of 19.5% to 2012. Total entertainment and media revenue growth is seen outpacing global gross domestic product, which will increase 5.7%, according to the report. Despite the acceleration of digital businesses, revenue from traditional media venues such as television will still dominate global market share. Digital and mobile revenue will account for only 11% of total spending, or $234 billion, in the next five years. Advertising on over-the-air television is expected to rise 5% on a compounded annual growth basis to 2012, making it the most resilient to threats posed by digital growth. "The oft-reported death of traditional media remains greatly exaggerated," according to the report.

Support the Employee Free Choice Act: Sign the Online Card Today. With your help, unions will present the new president and Congress with 1 million signatures urging them to enact the Employee Free Choice Act. Add your name today. The Employee Free Choice Act will: Strengthen penalties against companies that coerce or intimidate employees trying to form unions and bargain; Establish mediation and binding arbitration when the employer and workers cannot agree on a first contract; and Enable employees to form unions when a majority signs authorization cards. Sign the Online Card to help us reach our goal: 1 million signatures urging the new president and Congress to enact the Employee Free Choice Act.