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News :: Labor |
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No Respect At NBC |
Current rating: 0 |
by Nick Berveiler
Email: naberve (nospam) ilstu.edu (unverified!) |
28 Oct 2002
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Illinois Democratic Candidate for Governor, Rod Blagojevich supports Telemundo employees who are seeking union representation and respect by NBC for their decision to join a union.
While anti-war demonstrations took place on Saturday, October 26th across the country and around the world in major cities, including Chicago, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) held a rally for respect in front of NBC Towers in Chicago, protesting the inequality at NBC against Telemundo Broadcasters who have recently become employees of NBC. Over 200 people rallied and chanted both in English and Spanish: "What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!", In spanish: "Si, se puede!" ("We can do it!"), "El pueblo unido, Jamas sera vencido"("The people united, will never be defeated"), In English: "Respect!", "2,4,6,8 NBC Discriminates" and "2,4,6,8 NBC Negotiate!" A Telemundo truck drove by honking in support for the rally. |
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While anti-war demonstrations took place on Saturday, October 26th across the country and around the world in major cities, including Chicago, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) held a rally for respect in front of NBC Towers in Chicago, protesting the inequality at NBC against Telemundo Broadcasters who have recently become employees of NBC. Over 200 people rallied and chanted both in English and Spanish: "What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!", In spanish: "Si, se puede!" ("We can do it!"), "El pueblo unido, Jamas sera vencido"("The people united, will never be defeated"), In English: "Respect!", "2,4,6,8 NBC Discriminates" and "2,4,6,8 NBC Negotiate!" A Telemundo truck drove by honking in support for the rally.
NBC's acquisition last April of Telemundo, a major Spanish-language TV network, has created a tremendous problem and opportunity for AFTRA and other labor unions. The purchase of Telemundo for $2.7 Billion gives NBC 13 additional stations including WSNS TV44 in Chicago. NBC also owns WMAQ TV5 in Chicago and stations in 13 other cities. The major difference between Telemundo broadcasters and NBC's English speaking broadcasters is union representation. NBC apparently intends to provide less compensation and benefits to the Spanish-language staffs compared to the English-speaking personnel by keeping Telemundo employees non-union despite the current integration of all employees for news reporting.
Joining the protest against inequality was the Illinois Democratic Candidate for Governor, Rod Blagojevich and Congressman Luis Gutierrez, Illinois AFL-CIO President Margaret Blackshire and many others. Support from other Illinois unions included members of HERE Local 1, IBEW, Chicago Teachers Union, Teamsters, Jobs with Justice, and AFSCME as well as major support from AFTRA and SAG, whom Telemundo employees seek representation from.
Rod Blagojevich stated "I'm here to talk about fairness and justice and equality of opportunity and equal protection, the kind of values and the kind of freedoms that are at the heart of the American experience. This is very, very simple, its the same people who have the same qualifications, the same capabilities, the same talents and the same backgrounds and they are not being treated the same because of one little difference, they speak spanish. If I am Governor, I will be back here helping you."
Senator Dick Durbin sent a letter in support of Telemundo employees which was read at the rally. Senator Dick Durbin writes: "Dear Friends, Thank you for this opportunity to join in supporting the effort to achieve equality for Telemundo employees at the National Broadcasting Company. Since NBC purchased Telemundo there has been an unfair disparity between NBC and Telemundo employees. Paying those employees who work in the Spanish language a substandard wage is inconsistent with the principles of equal employment rights for all Americans. The employees of Telemundo should receive the same treatment as their coworkers at NBC. This should include standard union compensation, health benefits, pensions, and severance. To do otherwise is to widen the existing gap between Spanish language and English language employees. Employment discrimination reaches far beyond the world of broadcast journalism and we must continue to work to eradicate it in every form. With this decison, NBC faces a choice: will it view the hispanic community only as an audience to be used or as a group of fellow Americans to be respected. I hope that NBC makes the right choice."
Luis Gutierrez talked about the the discussion amongst legislative leaders in Congress, especially the support of all 18 members of the Hispanic Congressional Caucus, and the attempted dialogue with NBC's management that has already taken place. "This is a great struggle. A couple of workers are here on visas and could be deported if they lose their jobs because management decides to go after them. These are very proud people, they could go up there, get their salaries and go home but instead they want to work alongside NBC employees as equals and that is what this campaign is about, equality of treatment at NBC. I am very proud to stand with a candidate for Governor, Rod Blagojevich, because he has made a decision that he will not use his campaign dollars to advertise on channel 44."
President of the Illinois AFL-CIO, Margaret Blackshire said that what labor unions want for every worker is respect and that the 1 million members of the Illinois AFL-CIO are not buying ads on Telemundo and that they are standing with the Telemundo workers on whatever they think is best.
President of the Chicago AFTRA Local and Political Editor for NBC Channel 5 News, Dick Kay led support by NBC AFTRA/SAG members who support the Telemundo employees. Dick Kay explained that this rally was not an endorsement for candidates but a statement that AFTRA welcomes their support. Dick Kay also explained that candidates did not ask for anything in return and that AFTRA is not giving anything to candidates for their support at this rally and that while this does not affect his job performance, he did not leave his first amendment rights at the door when he became Political Editor at NBC 5. Dick Kay cautioned supporters to watch out for NBC's propaganda that AFTRA is not democratic, does not want an election and is a bad union. Dick Kay said that AFTRA welcomes an election but does not want 60 days of anti-union propaganda and intimidation by NBC beforehand and that the statements made by NBC were all lies. Rod Blagojevich joked that he was glad Dick Kay was not running for Governor because then he would be at the bottom of the polls instead of at the top of the polls.
The "Telemundo 9" vote 3 times for a union
The "Telemundo 9" are the nine Telemundo on-air broadcasters seeking union representation. They have acted with their mind, their heart and their feet by privately signing a NLRB union card, publicly signing a petition to NBC asking for union representation and standing with AFTRA and SAG as the union fights to support employees who want to be part of the already existing union at NBC. One of the Telemundo 9 stated in both spanish and english "when it is about money, we are separate companies, but when it is work, we are all together. Some of my colleagues have been doing stories in english for NBC already and some of us have been field producers in english for NBC and we believe that we are the same company and we want to be treated the same." Another member of the Telemundo 9 stated that this was not a fight about money or any other thing except justice and respect and that it feels like a glass ceiling that is keeping them at the bottom.
Substantive discussion about labor politics has been absent from the debates between Republican Jim Ryan and Democrat Rod Blagojevich except for criticism by Jim Ryan that Rod Blagojevich is beholden to labor unions as "special interests" and is too heavily funded by them. The reality is that the Illinois AFL-CIO gave Rod Blagojevich an 85% approval rating in the Democratic primaries for his lifetime voting record in Congress and labor unions have supported Rod Blagojevich because he has represented their concerns in government based on issues important to working families. It is not an issue of abusing power to represent unions over others as Jim Ryan tries to spin it, but it is about using the Governor's Mansion as a bully pulpit to address critical issues ignored by the mainstream media. The struggle for representation by Telemundo employees and the support by Rod Blagojevich shows that it is not just corruption in Illinois government that Rod Blagojevich is fighting against but that he is also fighting against the unfair treatment of workers by corporations who do business in the State of Illinois. |
