WGBH Union Workers Rally Against Management's Imposition of a New Contract
BOSTON/Brighton - Over 75 members of the Association of Employees of the Educational Foundation/Communication Workers of America Local 1300 and allies from the Greater Boston Labor Council and Massachusetts Jobs with Justice held a rally outside the offices of WGBH on Tuesday to protest the public television station's unilateral imposition of its final contract offer in the current round of collective bargaining negotiations with a large group of its unionized employees. AEEF/CWA represents over 300 WGBH workers - 35 percent of the station's workforce in all - and 93 percent of its members rejected management's offer with 97 percent of its eligible members participating in the vote.
The new contract will - in addition to a number of other contested changes - allow the station to outsource work outside of the station without negotiating with the union. But AEEF/CWA members are even more concerned that management has essentially jettisoned the language of the old union contract and engaged in what they believe are high-handed negotiation tactics prior to their declaration of an impasse in negotiations and imposition of their version of the union contract.
AEEF/CWA 1300 business agent Joe Montagna explained, "We called the March 15 rally because, in addition to being a national day of action in defense of collective bargaining rights across the US, it was also the day WGBH management had informed us they too would be abandoning the collective bargaining process, declaring an impasse, and unilaterally imposing their terms of employment on our members. We wanted to show them that such strong-arm anti-union tactics are simply not acceptable to our members who work for them nor to the Greater Boston community which supports them and, together, encourage them to return to the bargaining table as we had previously requested.
"Our members are well aware of the many challenges facing WGBH and our union has a proud 38-year history of crafting the kind of creative solutions which have allowed WGBH to adapt to such changes in the past while still preserving the most basic rights and protections for our members. But from our first day of bargaining this management exhibited zero interest in working together to find mutually acceptable solutions to its problems. Instead, they opened bargaining by throwing out our 38 year old agreement and presented us with a cover-to-cover rewrite of our entire contract.
"For the next 19 bargaining sessions they refused to even negotiate over discrete issues instead insisting on and only offering complete comprehensive cover-to-cover proposed versions of the entire contract. Then, when our contract expired on October 31 and we offered to extend its terms as we continued to bargain, they refused choosing instead to invoke power tactics like canceling our union security clause, counseling our members that they no longer needed to belong to our union, and stopped our collection of dues through payroll deduction. Finally, just over two weeks ago, they told us they were done bargaining, gave us their final offer and told us to ratify it or they would impose its terms by March 15. We conducted a ratification vote and our members soundly rejected the offer with 93 percent of participants voting against it. With that we informed them of our rejection and asked that they return to the bargaining table and work with us to create a truly fair and mutually acceptable agreement. "
WGBH management has a different view.
Jeanne Hopkins, WGBH vice-president for communications and government relations, said, "Because of the significant changes in the broadcast industry, WGBH proposed a new contract reflecting how production work is done now with digital technology, rather than again revise the 40-year-old contract. The proposed contract brings AEEF/CWA on par with the other union at WGBH, NABET,* and brings parity with non-union employees on key benefits. Without these changes WGBH is likely to lose production work, which means losing jobs.
"After seven months of good faith bargaining that included the help of a mediator, it is time to move forward, in the interests of all WGBH employees, and the public we serve. This new contract provides wage increases, for the fourth consecutive year, only for AEEF/CWA members that no other union, non-union or management employees will be receiving. It also offers the AEEF/CWA employees flexibility to grow, and includes generous benefits despite the difficult economic times.
"This negotiation has not been about weakening or undermining AEEF/CWA. None of the Foundation’s proposals have sought to remove positions from the bargaining unit, reduce the union’s jurisdiction, or reduce its right to bargain collectively. Every proposal has included provisions that preserve AEEF/CWA’s jurisdiction."
With WGBH management having imposed the terms of its final offer on the union, AEEF/CWA members plan to continue public action to pressure management to accede to union demands.
When asked how long AEEF/CWA plans to fight back against WGBH management's actions, Montagna replied, "For as long as it takes. We intend to continue pressing WGBH to return to the bargaining table and work with our members - not dictate to them - to fashion a contract which will give management sufficient flexibility to adapt to a changing environment while still preserving the rights of our members and the role of the AEEF as their democratic voice in the workplace. "
*the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians/ Communication Workers of America
