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The TimelineSince 1953, KGTV and NABET-CWA have never had a major dispute. The Union saw this as "a spirit of cooperation." The Company saw it as a historic opportunity to bust the union. According to the book, Confessions of a Union Buster, "Union busting is a field populated by bullies and built on deceit. A campaign against a union is an assault on individuals and a war on truth. As such, it is a war without honor. The only way to bust a union is to lie, distort, manipulate, threaten, and always, always attack.” Read on: 2005May 12, 2005: KGTV informs NABET-CWA it would like to conduct "family-style" (without attorney's or representatives) negotiations for a new contract during September, October and December. July 6, 2005: KGTV cancels a meeting to set dates for the negotiations. KGTV manager Mike Biltucci begins approaching members, engaging them in conversations about whether they feel unions are still necessary and telling them if they had to vote for a union today, they would probably not choose to have one. Such conversations are a known union-busting tactic, September 14, 2005: KGTV informs NABET-CWA that it will not have time to conduct negotiations until January and the talks will not be conducted "family-style." Union warns members that KGTV is likely seeking a confrontation. November 28, 2005: NABET-CWA learns the Company hired Sheppard Mullin, a law firm that boasts of providing employers with "union-free" environments. The lawyer representing KGTV is John D. Collins, of which his firm says, "He has assisted literally hundreds of companies in maintaining or achieving non-union status." 2006January 17, 2006: Negotiations begin. At the end of the first week, the Company issues an "update" that attacks the Union. It is the first of hundreds of "updates" and "memos" authored by John Collins and released by Mike Biltucci as his own. It is another known union-busting tactic, focusing on blaming the Union instead of focusing on reaching an agreement. Previously trusted managers are always used to release information and many times the rhetoric is disguised as answers "to questions we've received." There are 15 sessions in January, February and March. Jurisdiction is a major issue. Union attempts to find middle ground on Company’s jurisdiction proposals. Company rejects all efforts. March 16, 2006: Before jurisdictional discussions are complete, Company presents Union with its “last, best and final” offer. March 25, 2006: Members turn down the offer and send a letter to Vice-President and General Manager Derek Dalton, April 5, 2006: Without notice to Union, Company starts installing surveillance cameras in Union work areas. Union files a ULP; NLRB upholds the charge. April 12, 2006: Union and Company meet with Federal Mediator. Mediator concludes Company doesn’t want a contract at this time. April 13, 2006: KGTV declares impasse and notifies Union it will implement Article 9 jurisdictional proposals on April 17, 2006. Union informs Company it disagrees that impasse was reached and will begin mobilization. Mike Biltucci tells Local 54 President Dennis Csillag and Vice-President Robert Buchanan, "Nobody cares about a few union people in San Diego." April 14, 2006: Mobilization begins. 10NewsUnfair.com goes live. Union sends letters to KGTV advertisers asking them to suspend advertising for the duration of the dispute. April 17, 2006: Company implements Article 9 jurisdictional proposals. Union begins utilizing mobile billboard trucks, bumper stickers, yard signs, viewer boycott post cards, newspaper ads, website banner ads and advertiser handbilling. April 20, 2006: Human Resources Manager Siobhan Graham sends out memo to the full staff (including non-union employees) telling them they do not have to join the union to work at the station. April 28, 2006: Biltucci asks to meet with Csillag on May 1. He wants to have a discussion regarding where each side could go on the issues. May 1, 2006: Csillag meets with Biltucci, who says to give him a few days but never responds. When Csillag and Buchanan check back, Biltucci replies, “Ed (McGraw-Hill Broadcast Group President Ed Quinn) says to stay the course.” May 2, 2006: General Manager Derek Dalton responds to public complaints by saying, May 10, 2006: Siobhan Graham issues a memo to the full staff accusing union members of harassing other employees. May 18, 2006: Dalton cancels a meeting with the San Diego Labor Council at the last minute. Dalton says perhaps he will have time to meet in late June. May 29, 2006: Company terminates Local 54 President Dennis Csillag. Company immediately begins and sustains a campaign to use that action as a wedge to divide-and-conquer the Employees. Biltucci threatens Local 54 Vice-President Robert Buchanan. Union files ULP; NLRB upholds charge. June 26, 2006: Csillag and Buchanan meet with Quinn and Dalton. There is a joint decision to work through the issues one at a time. June 27, 2006: San Diego Labor Council holds first solidarity rally in front of KGTV. Csillag and Buchanan meet again with Quinn and Dalton. June 28, 2006: Csillag and Buchanan present a proposal to Dalton, who promises to give it due consideration and respond shortly. The Union issues a standing offer to suspend mobilization if the Company returns to the table and negotiates in good faith. Dalton says he appreciates the offer. July 1, 2006: Company sends managers and account executives to handbilling locations. Union files ULP; NLRB upholds the charge. July 6, 2006: Dalton responds in writing to Union’s proposal, calling it “regressive” and refuses to return to the table. Quinn is upset that the Union released details of a meeting he considered off-the-record. Union responds that none of the parties asked for the meeting to be off-the-record. August 2, 2006: Company holds meetings with Union-represented Employees to gauge their support for the Union. NABET-CWA President John Clark sends a letter to Dalton and Quinn asking to meet with them. August 3, 2006: Dalton declines Clark’s offer. Clark turns his attention to McGraw-Hill corporate. August 11, 2006: Quinn issues a memo to the full staff critical of the advertiser handbilling. Handbilling continues and over the next 2 months, advertisers pull ads totaling nearly $1 million. September 9, 2006: Labor Council holds second solidarity rally and entire group proceeds to handbill advertisers. NABET-CWA Sector officers attend. In an attempt to threaten and intimidate Employees, Biltucci videotapes rally and appears to write down names of those in attendance. Union files a ULP; NLRB upholds the charge. September 13, 2006: John Clark and Staff Representative Don Jernigan have an off-the-record September 25, 2006: The Labor Council's Jerry Butkiewicz writes an editorial about KGTV, published in 5 area newspapers. September 28, 2006: Two Local 54 members report that Operations Manager Patrick Givans discussed contract proposals with them. It is determined those were confidential details of the off-the-record meeting NABET-CWA and McGraw-Hill held in New York, breaking the confidentiality agreement. October 21, 2006: Local 54 website goes live, giving the Local a web presence and broader audience to respond to the continuing attacks from Sheppard Mullin. November 6, 2006: Dalton issues a memo to represented-Employees aimed at dividing the group, saying, “I urge those of you who disagree with the Union’s actions to make your voices heard.” November 29, 2006: John Clark has a follow-up off-the-record meeting with McGraw-Hill representatives. December 1, 2006: Labor Council holds third solidarity rally in front of KGTV. Dalton and Givans attend and attempt to intimidate Employees by staring at them from a distance. Givans takes photographs. Employees decide to stare back. A 40-minute silent stand-off ensues but eventually Dalton and Givans walk away. Union files a ULP; NLRB upholds the charge. December 2, 2006: In an attempt to intimidate Employees, Dalton shows up at Coles Carpets during a handbilling event. He gets into a heated debate with a customer. Union files a ULP; NLRB upholds the charge. December 15, 2006: Local 54 members send a letter to Terry McGraw asking the Company to return to the table. There is no response. 2007January 15, 2007: Jerry Butkiewicz attempts to schedule a meeting with Ed Quinn. His assistant says Ed is not accepting appointments for at least a month. Later calls are not returned. January 29, 2007: Union sends letter to Dalton and Quinn offering specific bargaining dates during February and March and asks Company to return to the table. February 2, 2007: Dalton responds that Company’s position “remains the same.” February 19, 2007: Congressman Bob Filner makes the first of several attempts to speak with Ed Quinn about the labor dispute. His calls are not returned. February 21, 2007: Union begins handbilling in New York (McGraw-Hill HQ) and Denver (KMGH). McGraw-HillUnfair.com goes live. March 5, 2007: UFCW Local 135 President Mickey Kasparian refuses to grant individual interviews to Channel 10 regarding grocery workers dispute. CFA (California Faculty Association) President Mark Wheeler also refuses interviews to Channel 10 regarding rolling strikes against the CSU system. March 19, 2007: Cesar Chavez Day Committee refuses KGTV offer to be a media sponsor for Chavez Day activities. Committee later rejects KGTV attempts to have a booth at the Street Fair and buy a table at the celebratory breakfast. May 2, 2007: Union submits proposals to KGTV that are designed to break the KGTV-declared impasse. May 17, 2007: Labor Council holds its 5th Solidarity Rally outside KGTV. Jerry Butkiewicz tells the crowd there is no absolutely no doubt that KGTV is attempting to bust the Union. Butkiewicz said, "We are one. When you attack the television workers represented by NABET-CWA, you're also attacking teachers, grocery workers, city workers, firefighters, letter carriers, ironworkers, the building trades, machinists, health care professionals, Teamsters and every other union worker in San Diego County. That's why we're telling 120,000 union members in this county to 'Turn off Channel 10.' Vote with the remote until we get a fair contract." June 19, 2007: Negotiations take place. NABET-CWA President John Clark joins the talks. The Company is only interested in talking about grievances, but the Union informs them it wants to discuss contract issues first. Mike Biltucci asks the Union negotiating committee to prepare a document that combines the contract issues with grievance resolution. The committee complies. KGTV later uses the document to say the Union presented new conditions for settlement. June 20, 2007: Negotiations continue. There is no progress. July 17, 2007: Negotiations continue. Company presents a package of proposals that are worse than the originals and tells the Union that its members don't support the Negotiating Committee. The Union sees this as another divide-and-conquer tactic and decides to go to the members for guidance before negotiations continue. July 18, 2007: The Union consults with members. July 21, 2007: Union members attending a General Meeting confirm they support the Negotiating Committee. The Company continues to attack the Union with John Collins-authored "memos." August 7, 2007: John Collins and Don Jernigan begin a series of correspondence where the Company will agree to return to the table only if the Union gives up some of its bargaining rights in advance and gives up on grievance resolution. (There are nearly 40 grievances outstanding). September 18, 2007: Following a protest during a live report on "10News Live at 5," General Manager Derek Dalton issues a threatening memo to employees. KGTV retaliates against the protest by having Patrick Givans conduct scab training in an effort to intimidate Employees. September 27, 2007: Jerry Butkiewicz, Secretary-Treasurer of the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council, writes a letter to Dalton over his union-busting tactics and asks him to step down. October 19, 2007: John Collins writes a letter to Don Jernigan claiming there is another impasse in negotiations. October 26, 2007: Don Jernigan responds to Collins, saying, "There is no impasse and nothing to stand in the way of fruitful negotiations between the parties." Mickey Kasparian, President of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 135, writes a letter to Dalton over his union-busting tactics and asks him to step down. November 5, 2007: Derek Dalton resigns. Broadcast Group President Ed Quinn announces November 9, 2007: Biltucci plants a seed inviting Employees to decertify the Union, telling them in a memo, "You do have a choice." November 14, 2007: Following a protest during a live report on "10News This Morning, Quinn gathers represented-Employees together and threatens them against exercising their legal rights. Quinn tells represented-employees, "You're going to stop harassing advertisers and you're going to stop disrupting newscasts. That's going to stop! Is that clear?" December 3, 2007: Local 54 members report that non-union employees are attempting to coerce members into signing a decertification petition. December 6, 2007: Union requests "off-the-record" meeting with Ed Quinn. December 7, 2007: Quinn refuses to meet. December 14, 2007: Mike Biltucci reports in a "Friday Memo" that Union handbilling is "driving key clients to cancel their advertising with us." Biltucci reports that during 2007 and the first part of 2008, the total loss is $1,255,000. December 21, 2007: In the midst of a campaign to encourage Employees to sign a decertification petition, Biltucci asks in a "Friday Memo:" "Is it union-busting to allow individuals the opportunities to make up their own minds where their individual interests reside?" (See the entry for July 6, 2005). 2008January 9, 2008: KGTV issues a lay-off notice to 3 represented-Employees without prior notice to the Union and blames it on the Union. January 31, 2008: The layoff is effective. Union files a ULP; NLRB upholds the charge and wants the Employees reinstated. The Company refuses to settle, preferring litigation. February 1, 2008: Mike Biltucci memo: "The union's charges have zero credibility and the NLRB dismisses them as fast as the Union can file them." (See previous entry). February 4, 2008: Local 54 member files a decertification petition with the NLRB. The Board takes no action because there are still unsettled charges pending against KGTV. The petition prevents a new contract from taking effect and gives KGTV little incentive to negotiate. February 8, 2008: Company's first use of the term, "one station," believed February 15, 2008: Company predicts a decertification vote will be held in mid-April. Company steps up the number of anti-union communications from Ed Quinn and Mike Biltucci to a minimum of one-a-week. March 7, 2008: Mike Biltucci memo: "The purpose of the election is to allow represented employees to decide freely whether they want this union to continue as their exclusive bargaining agent." March 9, 2008: Cesar Chavez Day Committee again refuses KGTV offer to be involved in Chavez Day activities. March 21, 2008: Mike Biltucci memo: "My understanding is that information and injustice is what led represented employees to ask for an election." April 18, 2008: It becomes clear the NLRB will not settle the layoffs charge without going to court. The bombardment of anti-union memos comes to an immediate halt and the Company's "one station" decertification campaign is put on hold. There would be no mention of the Union in the "Friday Memo" for the next seven weeks. May 5, 2008: Employees send a letter to Ed Quinn, requesting that KGTV return to the table. May 16, 2008: Quinn responds, refusing to return to the table. June 20, 2008: Ed Quinn is dealing with community members who are upset at the way the station is treating KGTV anchor Lisa Lake. After reporting the story on our website, Mike Biltucci claims the Union "has actively and publicly encouraged the notion that KGTV management is racist." The claim was actually that KGTV treats ALL employees unfairly. June 25, 2008: After presenting an argument to the NLRB that an impasse exists between the Union and Company, KGTV implements the regressive proposals it first made on July 17, 2007. July 10, 2008: McGraw-Hill appoints former KGTV Vice-President and General Manager Darrell Brown to replace Ed Quinn as President of McGraw-Hill Broadcasting, effective immediately. Brown will be based in Denver. July 16, 2008: McGraw-Hill appoints Jeffrey Block as KGTV Vice-President and General Manager, effective August 4, 2008. July 29, 2008: NLRB vs. KGTV hearing before Judge Gregory Z. Meyerson over NLRB complaint that KGTV laid off Employees without bargaining with the Union. The final outcome will determine the course of action KGTV takes on its union-busting campaign, which it paused in April. August 1, 2008: NABET-CWA suspends its mobilization against KGTV and its advertisers for the month of August, recognizing that new local and corporate management were not responsible for the current dispute. NABET-CWA President August 4, 2008: Jeffrey Block assumes duties as KGTV Vice-President and General Manager. August 22, 2008: McGraw-Hill Broadcasting President Darrell Brown refuses to meet with NABET-CWA President John S. Clark about the KGTV contract negotiations, saying a "meeting would not seem productive." September 1, 2008: Mobilization campaign resumes. By the end of the month, two more advertisers drop spots. September 26, 2008: Rejecting nearly 3 years of management attacks on "the union leadership," members re-elect Local 54 Executive Board to a new term. October 8, 2008: National Labor Relations Board denies KGTV appeal of Unfair Labor Practice charge alleging Union failed to represent Employees. NLRB originally dismissed the charge in August for lack of evidence. October 10, 2008: Labor leaders and union members from across San Diego County attend "The 10/10 Rally" to help launch NABET-CWA's "Turn Off 10News" campaign. October 22, 2008: The Executive Board of the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council and delegates representing every union in the County vote unanimously to sanction a boycott of KGTV. The boycott states that all friends and supporters of organized labor avoid watching 10News until the station is willing to offer their workers a fair contract. It also requests that supporters (including elected officials) avoid granting interviews to the station. November 4, 2008: San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council boycott of KGTV takes effect. About 50 Local 54 supporters gathered at Golden Hall (election central) carrying 10NewsUnfair.com signs. They mingled with supporters holding signs for various candidates and propositions and were visible on nearly every station's coverage. 10NewsUnfair.com set a record for one-day hits in just 3 hours on election night and sustained above-average hits for the next 5 days.
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designed to ascertain whether the individual is a "union supporter," how strong that support is and to identify what the main "fear" of that individual is should a management-labor dispute arise. 
asking that he return to the table. The letter is never answered. 
“I would like to clarify false information you may have received. 10NEWS treats all of our employees fairly and with respect and we will continue to do so. We believe that is good business and the RIGHT thing to do!” 
meeting with McGraw-Hill officials in New York. 
KGTV agrees to return to the table. 
he will also assume the duties of General Manager for the "forseeable future." Quinn tells the staff he was "involved in negotiations from the beginning" and he and Derek Dalton "were in complete agreement" with the position the Company was taking. Quinn begins targeting Local 54 Executive Board members for unjust disciplinary actions in an attempt to intimidate other Employees.
to be the theme of the Sheppard Mullin decertification campaign to be used against Employees. The goal of such a campaign is to re-direct the frustrations of Employees off the Company and onto the Union.