Union busters fouling public airwaves as Communications Workers of America presses KPFA to call off dogs
This just in from CWA regional vice-president Jim Weitkamp:
March 29, 2012
Since when would a progressive, community organization use voluntary donations to hire union-busting lawyers? That would never happen, right?
But it has happened at Pacifica Radio, where management has hired the notorious union-busting attorney Jackson Lewis–and CWA members are mad as hell.
This is a huge slap in the face to the workers who bring Pacifica’s shows to listeners and to the donors who expect their contributions to support radio programming, not union busting. It’s just the latest attack on the workers who make stations like KPFA in the Bay Area possible.
CWA-represented workers at Pacifica station KPFA have started a petition calling on Pacifica to drop this declaration of war right now and get rid of Jackson-Lewis. You can click here to stand with Pacifica Radio workers.
The current management at Pacifica Radio has a shameful record on workers’ rights.
There have been problems at Pacifica going back a long time, but hiring the premier firm behind the corporate attack on labor is an unprecedented breach of trust.
We need to stop this right now before this does serious damage to Pacifica Radio and union members’ jobs.
Please join me in signing the petition right now.
The Hunger Site
June 13, 2012 at 8:41 pm
Thank
you for covering this story. It comes as Pacifica (the corporation that
owns KPFA and 4 other radio stations) continues to drive some of its
best programmers out.
Pacifica’s national board has been taken over by those responsible
for these anti-worker actions, and is currently running roughshod over
KPFA. Listeners at KPFA are organizing a strong campaign for local
autonomy. Hundreds of listeners have signed petitions to hold a recall
vote on the worse offender on the national board, Treasurer Tracy
Rosenberg. (Find out more at http://www.SaveKPFA.org.) If you are a current listener member you should receive a ballot for the vote.
If you’re a former KPFA or Pacifica listener whose let your
membership lapse, please renew it (minimum $25/yr) and vote in this
fall’s local station elections. The local station reps you elect will
determine who sits on Pacifica’s national board.
KPFA Worker is a coalition of unpaid and paid staff, along with union and community supporters. We invite you to visit us at http://www.KPFAWorker.org to sign up for our newsletter. Or sign up for updates at the community group SaveKPFA.org or friend them on Facebook.
April 9, 2012 at 9:25 am
Managers sue Pacifica Foundation too, and Jackson-Lewis works to dispatch those complaints as well. For instance, the last CFO sued the Foundation.
April 4, 2012 at 10:04 pm
Statement from Pacifica National Board member Alex Steinberg re KPFA:
Defeat the recall and smear campaign against Elected KPFA and Pacifica Board Member Tracy Rosenberg
Statement from Alex Steinberg — Pacifica National Board Member from WBAI-N.Y.C., and National Finance Committee Member
I would like to say something about the vicious smear campaign against Media Alliance Executive Director, KPFA Local Station Board and Pacifica National Board member Tracy Rosenberg orchestrated by the so-called “SaveKPFA” faction.
The “SaveKPFA” group, which is closely affiliated with Democratic Party insiders in the Bay Area and a self-serving group of entrenched paid staff at KPFA, have been waging war against the Pacifica Foundation for the past two years. They have filed about a dozen frivolous law suits and complaints with the National Labor Relations Board against Pacifica and KPFA management. While all their NLRB complaints were dismissed as without merit, Pacifica was forced to spend over $80,000 in legal fees defending itself.
This is the same group that initiated the campaign to recall Tracy Rosenberg from KPFA Local Station Board, which would also remove her from the National Board, with a series of trumped up charges and outright lies. Estimates of how much in listener contributions Pacifica will be forced to spend to bankroll the recall election range anywhere from $15K–$45K. Let’s say for the sake of simplicity that between the frivolous NLRB complaints and the recall election, well over $100K of listener contributions is being wasted.
Could the barrage of frivolous lawsuits and recall campaigns be part of a well thought out strategy on the part of the SaveKPFA group to cripple Pacifica and KPFA in an election year?
It is not difficult to see that a group with close associations to pro-Obama forces in the Democratic Party would be fearful of any movement developing to the left of Obama and the Republicans. And what other independent media exists in this country that could potentially become a nationwide forum for the airing of alternative views in this election year other than Pacifica?
Is there a worked out pro-Democratic Party political agenda behind the reckless behavior of the SaveKPFA group whose goal seems to be to keep Pacifica constantly fighting off frivolous law suits and expensive recall elections that have no merit? This group thinks so little of the KPFA listeners that they would happily see this money spent in this destructive manner instead of using it to develop programming and expand our listener base. Think of just a few ways that these funds could have been put to better use throughout the Pacifica network.
Pacifica could expand its coverage of the conventions of the Green Party and possibly other alternative political movements farther to the left. We could have more extensive coverage of the Occupy Wall Street movement that has done so much to reframe the political dialogue in this country. It is an open secret that Democratic Party operatives have been working very hard to try to co-opt and anesthetize the Occupy Wall Street movement and channel it into another cheering squad for the Obama 2012 re-election campaign.
The SaveKPFA group that is behind the present recall campaign is the same group, who, when they ran KPFA up till a couple of years ago, thanks to what was then a compliant Pacifica National Board and ineffective management at the local and national level, drove KPFA and with it Pacifica to the very edge of insolvency. The previous management of KPFA — supported by the “SaveKPFA” faction — turned a surplus of a million dollars into a huge deficit in just three short years.
Finally, why has SaveKPFA targeted Tracy Rosenberg in particular? The charges enunciated in the recall petition are simply a pretext for a Karl Rove type political smear operation against Ms. Rosenberg and her allies who have tried to rescue KPFA and Pacifica from the crisis created by the SaveKPFA group. This is obvious enough to anyone who bothers to actually read what the SaveKPFA group writes. Their web site and printed material feature a host of libelous statements so extreme that they give new meaning to the term “Orwellian.” They should be rebuffed by anyone with an ounce of integrity.
According to the SaveKPFA propagandists, Ms. Rosenberg was responsible for layoffs at KPFA and drew up a “hit list” of those who were to be laid off. That is of course an absurd charge on the face of it since Ms. Rosenberg is not and has never been part of KPFA management and all decisions about layoffs are made by management in consultation with the union and in compliance with seniority rules in the union contracts. The layoffs that did occur followed the guidelines of the union contract and were in fact precipitated by the policies of the previous management that was supported by the SaveKPFA group.
Another Orwellian charge in the SaveKPFA bill of particulars is that Ms. Rosenberg and her allies “wasted more than $80,000 of listener money on an anti-union law firm.” In reality, the $80,000 that Pacifica was forced to spend in legal fees came about because of the frivolous law suits filed by the SaveKPFA group and their supporters, all of which have been adjudicated in favor of Pacifica.
The absurdity of these charges is even more astounding when you realize that while these filthy smears are being circulated by the SaveKPFA publicity machine for the recall of Tracy Rosenberg, not a single one of these charges appears on the actual text of the recall petition. The reason for that is very simple — the recall petition must be able to pass a very minimal legal standard and none of the charges in SaveKPFA’s publicity would be taken seriously by any sane person in a court of law.
There is not a word of truth in any of the allegations made by the SaveKPFA group. The real reason Ms. Rosenberg is being targeted by the “SaveKPFA” faction is that she has consistently fought to defend the independence of Pacifica against this assault by a group connected to the Democratic Party. And even before the 2012 election became an issue, Tracy Rosenberg fought against the cronyism of a small group of paid staff members at KPFA who nearly drove it into bankruptcy. Under their watch, a donor’s check for $375K was left a in a drawer and “forgotten” for over a year.
Ms. Rosenberg, as chair of Pacifica’s National Finance Committee, has worked hard to turn Pacifica into a financially solvent institution once again after years of mismanagement. Thanks to the new direction taken by Pacifica management and the Pacifica National Board our financial situation has been improving over the past year. Tracy Rosenberg has played an important role in that turnaround.
In addition to the political dimension of the SaveKPFA smear campaign; there is of course the personal dimension. I can only imagine the effect this must have on Ms. Rosenberg as she sees her name trampled through the mud on the Internet. The SaveKPFA orchestrated smears are calibrated to ruin Ms. Rosenberg’s career prospects because she would not go along with their agenda. Years from now, someone doing a Google search on the name “Tracy Rosenberg” will find the SaveKPFA garbage still out there and may not ever find that all those lies had been refuted countless times. Even if a search firm considering her does a thorough job and is convinced that the charges are without merit, there will always be a reluctance to employ someone who was the target of such a filthy smear campaign. This is how the Karl Roves of Pacifica operate.
What then should KPFA listeners do about the recall petition? My suggestion is use it to tell Pacifica that you want the “SaveKPFA” group recalled by voting NO! You can also include a comment with your ballot indicating that the following people who support the SaveKPFA faction on the KPFA LSB should resign their positions on the LSB and PNB as they are not serving the interests of Pacifica:
Malcolm Burnstein
Pamela Drake
David Gans
Conn Hallinan
Matthew Hallinan
Jack Kurzweil
Laura Prives
Tanya Russell
Dan Siegel
Andrea Turner
Margy Wilkinson
Sasha Futran
You may want to ask this group what plans they have to reimburse you the listeners the $100K of your funds they have wasted with their destructive campaign against Pacifica.
Defend an independent KPFA and Pacifica as a haven for an alternative culture and politics!
Send a message to the Democratic Party operatives that KPFA will not go quietly into the night.
Oppose McCarthyite smear tactics!
Defeat the slanderous recall campaign!
And don’t forget to send a message to anyone who would wage this kind of destructive McCarthyite smear campaign in the future by voting the SaveKPFA group out of office in the upcoming 2012 election.
Alex Steinberg
PNB member from WBAI
Member of the National Finance Committee
and proud colleague of Tracy Rosenberg, who is the 2011 and 2012 Chair of the National Finance Committee of the Pacifica Foundation. (writing in a personal capacity)
April 3, 2012 at 2:24 pm
With most people afraid to identify themselves by name here, I wonder what I may be subjecting myself to by posting not only my name but also my website, which I use to post my KPFA Weekend News segments, because despite its $3 million or so annual budget, and despite going through $1 million in reserves in recent years, KPFA has not made one of the most important transitions to new media, by making it possible to post KPFA subject segments on the Web.
This has been my main issue for the past 12 years. In 2001, I sat in some sort of meeting with then Pacifica E.D. Dan Coughlin and said that KPFA is not creating a historical record or making it possible for anyone to cite anything reported on KPFA because it isn’t posting tagged subject segments to the Web, where they can be found in Google Search or any other search engines. It seems obvious to me that this needs done to broaden audience and authority, but there’s some inexplicable resistance that I’ve been unable to understand.
I can see that there’s no point in asking those commenting to identify themselves, besides Adrienne and myself. But, even listeners are afraid to identify themselves? What is this?
April 2, 2012 at 9:14 pm
Is that you, Sasha L? Or her husband?
Local 9415 has been a company union for a long time. This fight is because they lost control of the company. Not because they’re in any way representative of most of those who labor at KPFA.
Why do you think they fought the elected boards so hard, and then figured out how to take control of them? But they overreached. Spent all the money. And enough people started to notice that maybe, just maybe, it’s not too late to salvage KPFA, to pull back from total catastrophe, and reclaim some semblance of real free speech radio, not just radio for the tepid wing of the liberal Democrats, and their NPR wannabe “announcers”
April 2, 2012 at 6:26 pm
“Friend of Free Speech Radio” – is that you, Barbara L? Or maybe it is just Tracy, who seems to post most of these anonymous things herself.
If so, it’s pretty sad that your attacks on KPFA and those who labor there have sunk to this level. Scratch a liberal, as they say, and you’ll find a union-buster. Pathetic.
April 2, 2012 at 4:21 pm
The title of the main article should be “CWA fires salvo in war against KPFA.”
With unions like CWA local 9415, who needs union busters? A small clique has been dividing the staff, choosing the managers (and driving out the ones they can’t control), and running the station for the benefit of their friends, while trying (and often succeeding) to get their enemies ousted for 15 years. It has been an ugly toxic reign of terror, and it’s time for it to end. They nearly bankrupted the station.
April 2, 2012 at 2:48 pm
Aimmie Aliison has ”moved on ” working for Comcast doing a local Cable TV segment primarily interviewing local officials . She’s doing fine .
As for Brian Edwards-Tiergert his friends have taken good care of him . He often hosts KPFA Public events along with other ‘ Save KPFA ”types while those allied with TR and her allies rarely get that plum job unless it’s a event co-sponsored by Middle east Childrens alliance .(Which the ” Save KPFA ”crowd probably don’t even want to do since they aren’t, to say the least , out spoken in defence of Palestinian rights )
April 2, 2012 at 11:07 am
A number of people also called in their concerns about how much voice Pacifica has been giving to the lobbyists for faux humanitarian military intervention, like NATO’s in Libya, now pending and/or underway covertly, in Syria and Sudan. It was a relief to hear several people calling Amy Goodman and Democracy Now out for that, though there were of course plenty of people who called in and said they couldn’t live without her.
April 2, 2012 at 10:46 am
I suggest that anyone following this also listen to Andrew Phillips’ Report to the Listener: http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/79250#
People with radically different viewpoints. Some who like the old Morning Show, some who like the new Morning Mix. Some liked Aljazeera, some hated it.
Several people called in during the first half hour to say thanks for the 09/11 investigations and analysis reported by Project Censored, and to ask, “Why’d it take so long? Why the censorship?”
Lots of people called to say they wanted more call-in shows, both in the morning and evening, that would involve the audience more and make them feel more like its their community station.
April 2, 2012 at 9:54 am
Oh please. The Kpfaworker crew has called every person that walked through the door in the past decade a “regime”.
And every programming change that didn’t involve them giving themselves a a new program a “catastrophe”.
The Labor Relations Board declared the layoffs were in compliance with the contract. They wasted $100,000 filing five consecutive complaints and losing every single one of them.
KPFA lost 28% of its subscribers between 2006 and 2009. More than 1 out of every 4. There is your listeners plea for change. Change that never happened and still hasn’t, although a few small steps have been taken in the right direction. Accompanied by screaming every step of the way.
The last KPFA fund drive consisted of 21% new subscribers. That is awesome.
It tells you exactly what is working to reverse a stagnant pool that was going nowhere and losing a half a million dollars a year doing it.
April 2, 2012 at 8:52 am
A management regime at Pacifica decided to make changes at KPFA, largely to further their own political agenda, under the guise of a budget crisis. They believe their ideas are so right that they should not need to follow seniority and grievance provisions in the union contract, nor deal in good faith with the staff union.
The Morning Show cancellation and a slew of other unpopular programming changes driven by Pacifica management have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in listener donations — and the station continues to ignore listener pleas for change.
Pacifica has wasted tens of thousands of dollars on expensive law firms to defend its questionable choices, and even to handle routine union grievances. By all accounts, Pacifica chose to hire Jackson Lewis, a notorious law firm which the AFL-CIO calls “America’s number one union-buster.”
And Pacifica is awash in fiscal mismanagement. Foundation staff have bounced workers’ paychecks (a crime) and illegally dipped into workers retirement accounts.
Pacifica has yet to mail ballots for a listener-prompted recall of the Pacifica National Board treasurer, despite certifying back in November that the signatures on the petitions were valid. By the board’s own timeline, ballots should have been mailed before the end of 2011.
Pacifica’s pattern of retaliation against critics of the current regime has had a chilling effect on staff, who now must fear disciplinary action and discharge. In violation of longstanding station tradition, Pacifica is trying to establish a gag rule, barring workers from talking about station politics on the air.
Labor councils throughout Northern California have urged Pacifica to end their hostile tactics and resume decent labor relations with their workers.
Listeners, donors and all KPFA staff, paid and unpaid, have a right to expect better.
April 2, 2012 at 3:17 am
No health insurance plan will cover freelancers exclusively. Any health insurance plan will allow unpaid employees to be covered at their own cost if the employer chooses to extend benefits to them. The union is blocking such an action, not Pacifica. It’s unlikely too many unpaid staff would be able to afford to take advantage of such an offer as KPFA’s health premiums are more than $600 a month for a single employee, $1,000 a month for a couple, and $1,500 a month for a family, but at least it would be a gesture.
As for the programming biases – I guess this is another version of Larry Bensky with calling unpaid programmers “clowns” on Michael Krasny’s Forum. Where on earth do you get the idea that citizen journalists, community radio voices and unpaid staff can’t and don’t produce extraordinary radio? They do all over the country. That is what community radio is all about. NPR already exists. Why do you need two of them?
If Pacifica is going to live, it has to come up with some vision for itself but a pallid and poorly funded imitation of National Public Radio.
April 1, 2012 at 9:30 pm
Ann, there is no group health plan that is going to let volunteers buy into it. Just ask the freelancers organizations that have been trying to get health care coverage for their members. Please don’t criticize a union for something because you’ve “heard” something third or fourth hand.
Same with those of you alleging one side in this fight is “radical” and “green” versus the other side is “wellstone democrats.” Come on. There are people of many varied political perspectives on both sides.
What really seems to define the two groups is that one wants quality, listenable radio programming in drive time that supports KPFA and helps pay its bills so it doesn’t go under. Something that competes well against KQED and KALW and other bay area stations. That’s what Save KPFA’s argument sounds like to me.
The other side wants drive time (and every other time too) to be “open mike” programming where anything and everything goes. Get rid of those “gatekeepers” preventing 9/11 programming! Stop insisting that hosts have something interesting to say and know how to do an interview!
That’s what the Engelhardt/Rosenberg side sounds like to me, a listener for over a decade.
The Engelhardt/Rosenberg method is going to sap supporters and bring the station down. It’s horrible that these people with no grasp of radio or of KPFA’s history are now in charge of it. And that they are violating their own bylaws by sitting on a recall election that should have happened 4 months ago.
As for the financial issues — those are way more complicated that some are describing here. KPFA’s treasurer reported last month that Pacifica still owes the station $1.4 million. The network has been siphoning off KPFA’s money for quite some time. Get some background by reading http://www.savekpfa.org/facts-about-the-kpfa-situation.
April 1, 2012 at 7:51 am
Community radio doesn’t work if you have more paid staff than the listeners can or will support. If you want more paid programmers than that, you have to go to underwriting … listen to KQED, and forget about KPFA.
That’s what happened at KPFA … they crossed the line, listener support dropped by more than 25%, but the staff didn’t. So they ran out of money and had to cut the staff. Simple.
I’m sorry that Aimee Allison was laid off … though less sorry than I would have been if her behavior about it on and off the air had been more “professional.” There are several others I would have preferred to see laid off. But she had the least seniority, so that’s that under the CWA contract.
Yep, I agree the Morning Mix needs more women … and I should have mentioned the women who are part of it … Tiny, Abby, Tara.
What I’d like to see is a call for programming proposals for the whole 7-9 am time. Really “mix” it up, with a lot of 1-hour/week or shorter segments that can be done by unpaid community people with some tech support.
Post a request for program proposals on the KPFA web page, Facebook page, Twitter account, and send it to many people/organizations.The Bay Area is a hub for brilliant & interesting people and cultural activity! There are many people who could bring exciting/inspiring/informative/engaging programming to KPFA with a little help.
People tuned away from KPFA long before the Morning Show got cancelled, & bringing it back won’t solve that problem. They had a very limited vision/repertoire/political & cultural view. A small group acted as “gatekeepers” at KPFA for way too long. That’s why so many people no longer find KPFA “relevant” to their lives/activities/concerns. Between 2006-2010 KPFA lost 28% of its listener support. Putting the same old people back into the morning drive isn’t going to fix that problem. While opening the doors wide just might re-energize the station.
Check out “What’s Really Going On here?” at http://www.stopthekpfarecall.org/?page_id=22
Scroll down the page a ways and you’ll see it.
March 31, 2012 at 8:05 pm
Gabby,
KPFA’s paid memberships declined by more than 25% between 2006 and 2009.
KPFA didn’t lose listeners because it cancelled the old Morning Show. It lost listeners and THEN it cancelled the old Morning Show.
Because it no longer had enough income coming in to run as much paid programming as before
Don’t mess up cause and effect.
And please stop charging sexism, It is the Save KPFA/Kpfa worker slate that pulled KPFA’s Women’s Magazine from the schedule and tried to get rid of it completely. It’s documented.
March 31, 2012 at 7:10 pm
@unpaid programmer:
I certainly didn’t blame Kellia’s heart attack on CWA. I said that Kellia worked at KPFA for years, but always with hours below the number that would have required the station to include her in the group health plan. Then, with no health insurance, she had a massive heart attack while operating the Board during the Sunday Evening News. And, that after that she was tormented by hospital bill collectors screaming “YOU OWE US $50,000!!!”
I know that there have been proposals to include KPFA’s unpaid staff in the health plan, or at least let them buy in at the group rate, but none of them have ever gone anywhere. Willie Ratcliff, Editor and Publisher of the San Francisco Bay View, argued for including the unpaid staff in the health plan for most of the years he served on the Local Station Board. I don’t know who opposed it, but I also don’t know that CWA was concerned with the issue, which did not affect their health insured union members.
Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Also, I did not say that Kellia was specially targeted when her paid hours were cut. Only that CWA was not concerned when they were cut, though it meant that Kellia could no longer make a bare living at KPFA. And, then CWA went to extremes fighting two KPFA lay-offs and cuts to their unionized workers’ hours.
I myself don’t have union experience, and it’s not an area I claim any expertise in, so I really can’t say how a radical union, if there were such a thing these days, would respond to KPFA’s uniquely hostile work environment.
Looking back at this thread, I think I overstated my point when I said that “CWA has a bad record on workers’ rights at KPFA.” Other people are saying that CWA failed to protect Nora Barrows-Friedman and targeted Dennis Bernstein and Davey D., and if that’s true, it sucks, but I don’t have any firsthand knowledge of it.
My point is really that, as the representatives of a privileged 20% at KPFA, most of whom also broadcast from a particular viewpoint, CWA should hardly be surprised if and when other KPFA workers or listeners don’t feel compelled to sign this petition.
March 31, 2012 at 5:59 pm
@Rick: That’s hard to make sense of, because the people who are supportive of Arlene’s leadership tend to identify with the radical slate in the KPFA Local Station Board elections. That slate includes more Green Party and Peace and Freedom Party members, while the slate trying to recall Tracy Rosenberg from the Local Station Board and Pacifica National Board, and thus to remove Arlene Engelhardt from her position as Executive Director of the Pacifica Foundation, include many members of Oakland’s Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club.
And, the news programmers who want to unseat Tracy and dismiss Arlene object to much of Project Censored’s radical reporting, most of all regarding 09.11.
March 31, 2012 at 5:00 pm
Perhaps everyone but “name withheld” notices that the string of hosts s/he mentions (“Davey D? JR Valrey? Project Censored? Andres Soto? Dennis Bernstein?”) are all male, at least half older white men. Oh yeah, plus producer Anthony Fest, the same.
How Pacifica management supporters can turn that into a “radical” change — after shutting down the Morning Show, which was a majority women & staff of color production — is truly amazing.
Of course this has to do with Engelhardt, Phillips and Rosenberg — they are the ones who slashed successful programming and put the Morning Mix in to place, and keep it on. They are the power structure at Pacifica/KPFA right now.
The other problem with the Morning Mix is that when it covers many of the same topics over and over, with the same voices, same questions, so it is flat and boring, sometimes nutso conspiracy or just uninformed. Davey D can, on occasion, be good but he’s the exception.
People have tuned out. The hour-long Morning Mix has failed to bring in listener support, and pulled the entire morning lineup (even Democracy Now) down with it.
March 31, 2012 at 4:47 pm
There are only two pieces of information that really matter in this discussion about union busting at Pacifica:
* Did Pacifica choose to do business with union busting law firms?
The answer is NO: In lawsuits filed against Pacifica, the network is locked into a list of lawyers approved by the insurance company, and all options listed are union busting lawyers. There is no choice.
* Did Pacifica use union busting law firms against the union that is representing workers at KPFA?
The answer is NO: The insurance-mandated union busting lawyers have never been used in any conflict with the CWA, and are therefore not involved in any union busting at KPFA.
There is NO union busting going on at KPFA, and anyone who tells you there is, is either lying or very misinformed.
March 31, 2012 at 10:45 am
If anyone has made it this far down the thread, I guess it should be pretty clear by now that what is wrong and has been wrong at KPFA has been wrong for a long time and has nothing to do with Engelhardt, Phillips, Rosenberg or any of the others who are being abused and disparaged.
We’re talking 20 years of a toxic work environment that has left a trail of anger, broken hearts, busted dreams, alienated talent, and more than a few heart attacks. The Bay Area is littered with people who ran away screaming from KPFA.
Reality is not about shuffling executive directors, general managers or board members. That is just a distraction from the real problem. Take a good hard long look at who has been in place for years. Mark Mericle, Phillip Maldari. CWA vice-president and shop steward. Not a coincidence.
They have no right to launch a campaign to destroy anyone who disagrees with them. That has been the reality at KPFA for decades.
March 31, 2012 at 9:16 am
Rick — Do you listen to the Morning Mix? Not radical enough for you? Davey D? JR Valrey? Project Censored? Andres Soto? Dennis Bernstein? It’s a lot more radical than the old Morning Show was. It’s the CWA 9415 “gatekeepers” at KPFA who have kept many “radicals” off the air for the past decade … mainly fronting for “liberal Democrats”, but not allowing third party perspectives, radical Black and Latino perspectives, 9/11 inquiry perspectives, and much more, onto KPFA’s airwaves if they could prevent it. And they definitely could and did prevent it in the 7-9 am drive time until last year.
March 31, 2012 at 8:56 am
Rick, if Engelhardt does not stay at the helm of Pacifica, you will find much to be grim about. It’s not about recalling people to prop up a self-serving faction, it’s about doing what is necessary to save an organization.
KPFA lost 1.2 million dollars in 2 years and refused to trim expenses, catapulting it into a state of emergency by the Fall of 2010.
Instead of facing up to the fiscal crisis like adults, the kpfaworker/save kpfa faction continues to bleed funds for frivolous lawsuits, assault the character of the management team and board of directors that saved them from bankruptcy, and petulantly proclaim that no programming changes are needed at KPFA – when a six-year old child can tell that if 25% of the subscribers wander off (as happened at KPFA between 2006-2009 PRECIPITATING the financial crisis), you are doing something very wrong.
Engelhardt deserves credit for taking a ridiculous amount of abuse from this infantile crew and doing what is necessary to rescue a vitally important and somewhat troubled network.
March 31, 2012 at 2:55 am
I am in such grief. I have been a listening to KPFA when I lived in San Francisco 1978-1996, and then an online listener every day since I moved to Boston in 1996. It is such as important part of my life. This group of individuals around Arlene Englehardt that have solidified power seem to want to take the radical edge away that KPFA is built upon, and then decapitate it and turn it into something liberal or even worse, something that none of us can even see the nightmare coming on (the dystopian future can’t be seen) but the future looks grim (no ballots to remove even sent out?) if her clicque continues their dirty work.
March 30, 2012 at 7:35 pm
A good question is: “Why is CWA at war against KPFA/Pacifica?” It’s not the other way around. Why did they pump up the staff to an unsustainable level while the station lost $1.5 million between 2007-2010? That was while the old stale “Morning Show” was on the air. Why, when the station ran through all its reserves and couldn’t meet its payroll, did CWA refuse to negotiate reasonably over layoffs? Why are they trying to take down this venerable community resource? Who is behind this and who benefits from it? If CWA gets its way, KPFA and Pacifica will be bankrupt and off the air. Who will get the broadcast licenses? Is anyone asking CWA what their real intention is here? All this sqwaking about “union busting” is nonsense. KPFA/Pacifica management has been extremely reasonable. They probably needed to layoff more staff in order for the station to recover … especially since CWA wasted so much listener money filing ridiculous grievances that the NLRB ruled, time and again, were “without merit.” So, what is CWA getting out of this? Cui bono?
March 30, 2012 at 6:40 pm
You have got to be kidding. Besides all the other phony “crimes,” you are blaming a heart attack on CWA, the rank and file union that represents what’s left of KPFA’s paid workers? Huh? What planet are you on?
Kellia’s hours were cut, just like many other people’s hours were cut. She was not targeted in any way, shape or form. I’m an unpaid programmer, and I want to say that EVERYONE at KPFA works their butts off — paid or unpaid. Most don’t use their real names on anything, because they’ve seen these internet attack ad naseum and don’t want to be targets.
Most of the unpaid have the option of not showing up if they have another commitment, or they are learning how to do radio and aren’t on all the time. The paid staff don’t have that option, which is why they are paid. They are needed to do core programs, raise money, do training, tech and administrative work.
Neither was Nora “thrown to the wolves” by the union. She had her hours cut to 20 because her coworker, Dennis Bernstein, would not share the hours cuts which everyone else at KPFA shared.
Most of us care about and support each other at KPFA. You can’t miss the secular “altar” that greats you in the lobby, where comrades who have passed are remembered. The vast majority of we unpaid staff also support our co-workers who happen to be paid. Good for them that they have union representation! They certainly need it with an employer like Pacifica.
It is not their fault that in a previous fit of union-busting, Pacifica pushed a case all the way to the NLRB to have the unpaid staff thrown out of the bargaining unit. (See KPFAWorker’s labor history for a link to the case.) Anyone who has half a mind knows the union is not the enemy.
Something to keep in mind as you read these endless internet postings attacking KPFA’s staff. There is a handful of people at KPFA who are virulently anti-union, willing to make things up or blame someone’s heart attack on the union or its members or supporters. A couple of them are paid, a handful are unpaid, and frankly, a few of them are simply mentally unbalanced. That’s the bottom line. Very sad.
March 30, 2012 at 5:12 pm
“Our union has never sat in any room advocating for the removal of any worker. This is a flat-out lie — one designed, again, to divide workers”
You wish it was a lie. But it is not. It is exactly what the union did. Target Bernstein and Davey D out of seniority order. “The union doesn’t object”. Fact.
Ask Nora Barrows-Friedman how the local threw her to the wolves after she was targeted out of seniority order.
That’s why people won’t use their names. The union local is corrupt and stinks to high heaven.
Engelhardt, Phillips, Core, Rosenberg etc and many other before them are standing up to a reign of terror and demanding something better for everyone involved with KPFA and Pacifica. Thank God.
March 30, 2012 at 5:04 pm
Esther Manilla’s sad and ridiculous tale – which can be found in public at the domainweb site for Alameda County Superior Court – begins in 2004 when then Los Angeles-based Esther was working at Pacifica station KPFK and claimed lesbian sexual harassment from the station’s general manager. A year later, after transferring to the Berkeley station, Esther claims heterosexual sexual harassment from then-Berkeley general manager. A few years later, Esther claims her work environment is unsafe because an African-American member of the unpaid staff yelled at her and asked her to leave the control room during his program. Ms. Manilla filed a union grievance stating that she had disturbed dreams about the death of her beloved dog due to emotional trauma sustained during the altercation. Even the CWA refused to pursue this grievance. This trauma also impacted Ms. Manilla when she erroneously accepted a severance package from Pacifica and cashed her first severance check before then stating that she had erroneously quit her job a month earlier and wished to be restored to it.
Your listener dollars at work.
March 30, 2012 at 1:25 pm
Using real names if you work at KPFA is dangerous … Not because Pacifica will fire you, but the “ruling clique” from CWA threaten peoples’ jobs if they speak out publicly against the “KPFAWorker” party line. If they win this fight the people on their “hit list” will be gone.
But, perhaps KPFA Worker can explain why, if they’re so concerned about KPFA’s legal expenses, they and their friends keep suing the station? Most recent being Esther Manilla — claiming she didn’t accept the voluntary severance package offered to all KPFA staff when we all heard her yell at Arlene Engelhardt of KPFA’s airwaves that she had accepted it?
March 30, 2012 at 1:16 pm
First off, it is stunning to see Pacifica’s Executive Director confirm, in writing that Pacifica now has Jackson-Lewis on a general retainer, and is using it in arbitrations.
Second, it is unfortunate that Arlene Engelhardt takes no personal responsibility for the acrimony or the litigation.
Pacifica faced arbitrations because she fired staff at KPFA out of seniority order (that’s why Brian Edwards-Tiekert got his job back, with backpay).
It faced NLRB complaints because Pacifica gagged its workers from discussing what was happening on the air–something that might be legally-defensible, but runs contrary to Pacifica’s very mission statement.
Pacifica faced grievances — as does any unionized employer — because of legitimate concerns about working conditions. But Arlene Engelhardt is the first manager in Pacifica who has rejected every grievance out of hand, instead of trying to work them out with our union reps. When we go to the NLRB, it is because Pacifica won’t resolve routine disputes through the normal process.
And Pacifica faces at least one lawsuit because of how badly Engelhardt handled the departure of an employee who had already volunteered to take a severance package — trying to renege on the terms of that package, refusing to deal with her concerns about a co-worker’s harrassing conduct, etc.
The fact is, Pacifica’s facing a high level of legal activity because Engelhardt is a terrible manager who doesn’t know how to deal with workers, and doesn’t know how to deal with unions. And her only solution to mounting legal activity is to hire a union-busting law firm — not deal with the root causes of the suits.
Also, a little fact checking on the assertions by Eric Brooks and Ann Garrison: the reason CWA can’t represent unpaid staff at KPFA is because the NLRB has ruled (in a case that came from Pacifica station WBAI in New York) that it’s illegal to include volunteers in a collective bargaining unit.
Everyone at the station knows this; anyone attacking KPFA’s union on this front is just spreading lies and innuendo for the sake of dividing our workers.
Our union has never sat in any room advocating for the removal of any worker. This is a flat-out lie — one designed, again, to divide workers.
March 30, 2012 at 12:51 pm
The Unpaid Staff Organization (UPSO) voted this statement in it’s December 2012 meeting: The KPFA Worker site does not represent the Unpaid Staff Organization at KPFA.
Most of the staff at KPFA work without union representation or wages. I’ve been there for 8 years with Pushing Limits, the disability program. I believe, KPFA Worker only represents a few among the staff. And, like many unpaid staff, I do not stand behind many of their statements. And I want them to identify themselves by name.
I’m limiting myself to a couple of points here. Many people talk about the swamp of dissension at KPFA. If you read the comments before mine, you can get a taste of it. . .
I don’t agree with everything Pacifica says and does. But anyone reading Arlene Englehardt’s comment can see that the network as a whole needs a unified effort to preserve it. The constant back-biting, politicking and complaining in public undermines the only progressive network in the U.S. It does not serve workers, the working class, or the 99% who are rising up to turn this society around.
March 30, 2012 at 12:29 pm
I’m sorry Ms. Garrison, but not possible on that front. I don’t want to lose my job and the CWA Local 9415 has a track record of getting rid of whoever questions their power at KPFA.. Ask Nora Barrows-Friedman.
The union at KPFA is a joke. It sat in meetings advocating for Dennis Bernstein and Davey D to be booted off the schedule to protect a handful of “favored ones” who were further down the seniority chart.
WHAT kind of a union local pressures management to violate the seniority provisions in their own contract? That’s not a bargaining unit, it is a mafia.
Davey D is on their air today (and practicing one of the more ethical and pathbreaking journalistic practices around) because Pacifica stood up to the CWA.
That’s the facts.
March 30, 2012 at 11:10 am
I’d like to ask that everyone participating in this conversation use their real names, including “KPFA Worker” and “Real KPFA Worker.”
March 30, 2012 at 10:28 am
CWA, not Pacifica, has a shameful record on workers’ rights at KPFA, where only 20% of the staff are paid and unionized, and 80% are not, without plausible justification, and with a deleterious impact on KPFA’s working environment and broadcast content.
This is the kind of fight that alienates most of the working class from unions, who ask, “What’s this got to do with us?” CWA shows no interest in addressing the fact that 80% of KPFA workers are unpaid, or that many put in long hours nevertheless.
Neither CWA nor the paid staff were in the least concerned when Weekend News tech Kellia Ramares had a massive heart attack, without health benefits, during one of the KPFA Weekend Newscasts. Kellia had worked at KPFA as a tech for years, but previous management, which was preferred by the CWA unionized staff, had never let her hours rise to 20, at which point they would have been obliged to include her in the union and pay her health benefits.
KPFA Weekend News Anchor Anthony Fest looked through the window of the room where he was broadcasting Sunday News and saw Kellia passing out on the Board. He stopped broadcasting, switched some music on, and rushed her to the hospital. After that she was tormented for years by bills screaming, “YOU OWE US $50,000.”
Kellia finally quit after a previous KPFA Interim Manager, one of the last supported by CWA unionized staff, decided to cut her hours by another two or three to save $40 to $60 a week, before the layoffs of CWA staff that has CWA screaming, without a peep from CWA or the CWA unionized staff.
Have CWA Vice President Jim Weltkamp or any other CWA brass ever even heard this story? I’m not going to claim that I know, but I very much doubt it. Would they care? I very much doubt that too. So long as her hours were kept below 20, Kellia didn’t qualify for health benefits or union representation, so why should they give a damn about her? Their concern is neither the working class, nor KPFA; it’s CWA and its dues paying members.
I was a 20-year listener-subscriber to KPFA, and the Pacifica Network, before I ever contributed any content myself, to the Weekend News, sometimes to Flashpoints and the Project Censored show, and, as co-producer/host on AfrobeatRadio, a weekly show on one of KPFA’s Pacifica sister stations, WBAI-N.Y.C. I do not feel that current management is attacking me, as a longtime listener-subscriber, or as a KPFA/Pacifica worker.
I’ve asked Luke Thomas to publish a response to this which I’m sure more high profile KPFA programmers than myself, including Flashpoints’ producer/hosts Dennis Bernstein and Miguel Molina, Morning Mix and Hard Knock producer JR Valrey, and Project Censored Show producer/hosts Peter Phillips and Mickey Huff, and Project Censored labor reporter Steve Zeltzer, and Pushing Limits producer Adrienne Lauby will help write and sign.
I rarely presume to speak for other people but, having attended Wednesday’s KPFA staff meeting, I don’t hesitate. These programmers’ concerns are not all identical to mine, and Dennis and Miguel are actually paid and represented by CWA, but I’m quite sure I know how they feel about this, and that, like me, they would ask you NOT to sign this petition.
March 30, 2012 at 9:52 am
Oh, so now the story from Pacifica’s chief defenders is that it was “forced” to hire Jackson Lewis to fight those $20/hr KPFA workers whom it has been harassing and intimidating. Had to hire them even *before* the insurance deductible kicked in, and had to put them on a retainer too.
As we have said elsewhere, it is well-documented that Pacifica is using Jackson Lewis on at least four cases that are not under the control of Pacifica’s insurance carrier—in other words, Pacifica has chosen to use the firm, not had the firm imposed on it.
We also understand that Pacifica recently put Jackson Lewis on a general retainer for labor and employment issues, which Ms. Engelhardt (finally!) confirms above. She, as the director of Pacifica, apparently has no problems with choosing to hire the nation’s #1 union-busting law firm.
That adds to the $120,000 at KPFA alone that has been spent on such firms just this past year. Much more has been spent network-wide. These are *listener* dollars, spent on union-busters. If you have all those other bills, Ms. Engelhardt, why are you hiring $400/hr lawyers to undermine your staff’s labor rights?
In any case, what does it matter whether it was Pacifica’s insurance carrier that initially may have played a role in hiring Jackson Lewis? Pacifica has repeatedly chosen to expand its use of the nation’s top union-busting firm. It’s a gross misuse of listener dollars and a threat to Pacifica’s unions.
Ms. Engelhardt also says KPFAWorker.org’s “most recent blast is that Pacifica’s hiring the Jackson Lewis law firm is ‘a declaration of war on the unions that represent Pacifica workers.'” No, that’s not our blast, Arlene, that’s a quote from the entire unionized KPFA staff — they voted on the matter and their union stewards sent you and every member of the elected Pacifica board a letter with those words in them, and supporting evidence, demanding that you “unhire” the union-busters you had just hired or they would go public with the information.
None of you even bothered to respond. Not surprising, since you’ve been misappropriating your workers’ own retirement contributions and disciplining those who report the issues that face the network. (See KPFAWorker.org for details.)
The claims about KPFA’s unionized staff above are complete mythology, perpetrated by the same crew that has tried to take over Pacifica and hired union-busters. For a more accurate account of the history of KPFA’s unions, see http://www.kpfaworker.org/kpfa-labor-history.
And, just so readers know, the person above is posting deceptively as “KPFA Worker” using our name and email address. It is probably the same person who has squatted several internet sites that mimic KPFAWorker and SaveKPFA.
The real KPFA Worker is a coalition of unpaid and paid staff, along with union and community supporters. We invite you to visit us at http://www.KPFAWorker.org to sign up for our newsletter, or send a message of solidarity.
We especially invite you to read the posts on our site and at SaveKPFA and make up your own mind. The evidence against Pacifica’s current managers, including Ms. Engelhardt and Ms. Rosenberg, who is facing a listener recall, is clear: they have been severely mismanaging the network and gutting the flagship station, KPFA, for some time. We hope you’ll make a commitment to stop them.
March 30, 2012 at 9:41 am
Pacifica — Regeneration or Sinking Into the Mire?
By Arlene Engelhardt, Executive Director, Pacifica Foundation
Pacifica respects our workers’ rights to union representation and we deplore “union busting” wherever it occurs — and it WILL NOT occur at Pacifica on my watch.
We also expect Pacifica’s KPFA staff to act, speak and report with integrity and professionalism when they have disputes with management. In that expectation I have been deeply disappointed since I came to Pacifica in December 2009.
For the past 18 months “KPFAWorker” and “SaveKPFA” have put out a relentless barrage of distortions, half-truths and outright falsehoods intended to whip up a frenzy — with no middle ground, no nuance, no room for exploring and resolving the multi-faceted problems facing KPFA and Pacifica.
Their most recent blast is that Pacifica’s hiring the Jackson Lewis law firm is “a declaration of war on the unions that represent Pacifica workers.” This is an incendiary falsehood. Pacifica has amicable relations with all our employees’ unions except CWA local 9415 at KPFA.
Jackson Lewis was first hired in 2010 to handle only litigation and is not involved in union relations at Pacifica at all.
After several seriously mishandled lawsuits, Pacifica desperately needed a competent employment litigation defense firm. Jackson Lewis was hired from a list of firms approved by our insurance carrier. They have provided legal defense in five lawsuits around the network, including four brought by former management employees, and have handled two arbitrations at WBAI. Three cases are still pending including one at KPFA. Our insurance deductible for each case is $125k — more than 2 employees’ salaries and benefits for one year at KPFA.
In every case, Jackson Lewis has saved us money by working at reduced rates and handling matters efficiently while looking for reasonable early settlements. In addition, they recently agreed to a retainer for 4 hours/month at greatly reduced rates to assist us with non-litigation matters. The amount of litigation around Pacifica is a disgrace that comes from years of extremely destructive factionalism.
It’s up to the Pacifica National Board, but I have advised them that terminating Jackson Lewis would be reckless and expensive. Changing lawyers in mid-litigation is dangerous. The stations would have to pay new lawyers to get up to speed. Our insurance company may penalize us for it. They have done an exemplary job. And they are NOT engaged in “union busting” for Pacifica.
Concerning Other Recent “KPFAWorker/SaveKPFA” Charges — Context Matters
Ten years ago, through extraordinary efforts by Pacifica’s listeners, Pacifica was saved from a “corporatizing” board of directors. Their intent was to “NPR-ize” Pacifica and tone down its more radical programming.
When the new board of directors took over in January 2002 Pacifica was bankrupt. The former Executive Director had drained all five stations’ bank accounts — including about $1.4 million from KPFA — to pay lawyers, PR firms & private investigators to fight the “Free Pacifica” movement. Pacifica was over $4 million in debt and had no cash.
Through the extraordinary generosity of our listeners, Pacifica recovered and paid off its outside creditors between 2002-2005.
For the first few years there was an air of excitement & victory that enlivened Pacifica. New programs were brought to the air. Elected local and national boards and program councils including listeners were established for the first time. But for some these were unsettling intrusions.
The tide turned around 2006-2007. Faction fighting at all five stations took its toll. The spirit of collaboration and openness faded and programming became stagnant. Media activism on the internet began to displace Pacifica, as we were not keeping pace with innovations.
Pacifica’s overall listener support dropped 23% — from $13.8 million for fiscal year ending (FYE) September 30, 2006 to $10.6 million for FYE 2010. KPFA’s listener support dropped 27% — from $4.0 million for FYE 2005 to $2.9 million FYE 2010.
KPFA, WBAI and WPFW have been running seriously in the red. KPFA lost $1.5 million in the four years from FYE 2007 through FYE 2010, while Pacifica as a whole lost $5.5 million. Stations have met their payrolls by not paying their share of network-wide expenses (Central Services) — for Democracy Now!, the Pacifica Radio Archives, our insurance, our auditors, etc. Stations have also used the National Office as a “bank” to advance sums for their expenses — health premiums, legal expenses, pension fund contributions, etc. As a result, Pacifica national is carrying almost $3.4 million in accounts receivable from the stations, and $1.3 million in debts to outside creditors. This cannot continue.
If KPFA and Pacifica are to survive, then people must work together to solve our problems. KPFA’s programming must be revitalized. I’m proud of the work this past year of many people at KPFA in extremely difficult circumstances — especially the volunteers at the “Morning Mix” and the interim Manager and Program Director, Andrew Phillips & Carrie Core. They are bringing in new voices and perspectives and building new audiences for KPFA.
But at the same time “KPFAWorker/SaveKPFA” is driving away listeners and donors with their constant negative campaign. Many listeners are sick of it and tuning us out and finding more positive things to support. A media revolution is underway. The Occupy Movement is demanding and creating it. KPFA & Pacifica can either open our doors and be a hub for it, or sink in our own mire.
I do believe regeneration is possible. I call on everyone to put down their swords and find ways to solve our problems together.
###
March 30, 2012 at 8:08 am
Pacifica Radio: Regeneration or Sinking Into the Mire?
(Arlene Engelhardt is the Executive Director of the Pacifica Foundation).
Pacifica respects our workers’ rights to union representation and we deplore “union busting” wherever it occurs—and it WILL NOT occur at Pacifica on my watch.
We also expect Pacifica’s KPFA staff to act, speak and report with integrity and professionalism when they have disputes with management. In that expectation I have been deeply disappointed since I came to Pacifica in December 2009.
For the past 18 months “KPFAWorker” and “SaveKPFA” have put out a relentless barrage of distortions, half-truths and outright falsehoods intended to whip up a frenzy—with no middle ground, no nuance, no room for exploring and resolving the multi-faceted problems facing KPFA and Pacifica.
Their most recent blast is that Pacifica’s hiring the Jackson Lewis law firm is “a declaration of war on the unions that represent Pacifica workers.” This is an incendiary falsehood. Pacifica has amicable relations with all our employees’ unions except CWA local 9415 at KPFA.
Jackson Lewis was first hired in 2010 to handle only litigation and is not involved in union relations at Pacifica at all.
After several seriously mishandled lawsuits, Pacifica desperately needed a competent employment litigation defense firm. Jackson Lewis was hired from a list of firms approved by our insurance carrier. They have provided legal defense in five lawsuits around the network, including four brought by former management employees, and have handled two arbitrations at WBAI. Three cases are still pending including one at KPFA. Our insurance deductible for each case is $125k—more than 2 employees’ salaries and benefits for one year at KPFA.
In every case, Jackson Lewis has saved us money by working at reduced rates and handling matters efficiently while looking for reasonable early settlements. In addition, they recently agreed to a retainer for 4 hours/month at greatly reduced rates to assist us with non-litigation matters. The amount of litigation around Pacifica is a disgrace that comes from years of extremely destructive factionalism.
It’s up to the Pacifica National Board, but I have advised them that terminating Jackson Lewis would be reckless and expensive. Changing lawyers in mid-litigation is dangerous. The stations would have to pay new lawyers to get up to speed. Our insurance company may penalize us for it. They have done an exemplary job. And they are NOT engaged in “union busting” for Pacifica.
Concerning Other Recent “KPFAWorker/SaveKPFA” Charges — Context Matters
Ten years ago, through extraordinary efforts by Pacifica’s listeners, Pacifica was saved from a “corporatizing” board of directors. Their intent was to “NPR-ize” Pacifica and tone down its more radical programming.
When the new board of directors took over in January 2002 Pacifica was bankrupt. The former Executive Director had drained all five stations’ bank accounts—including about $1.4 million from KPFA—to pay lawyers, PR firms & private investigators to fight the “Free Pacifica” movement. Pacifica was over $4 million in debt and had no cash.
Through the extraordinary generosity of our listeners, Pacifica recovered and paid off its outside creditors between 2002-2005.
For the first few years there was an air of excitement & victory that enlivened Pacifica. New programs were brought to the air. Elected local and national boards and program councils including listeners were established for the first time. But for some these were unsettling intrusions.
The tide turned around 2006-2007. Faction fighting at all five stations took its toll. The spirit of collaboration and openness faded and programming became stagnant. Media activism on the internet began to displace Pacifica, as we were not keeping pace with innovations.
Pacifica‘s overall listener support dropped 23%—from $13.8 million for fiscal year ending (FYE) September 30, 2006 to $10.6 million for FYE 2010. KPFA’s listener support dropped 27%—from $4.0 million for FYE 2005 to $2.9 million FYE 2010.
KPFA, WBAI and WPFW have been running seriously in the red. KPFA lost $1.5 million in the four years from FYE 2007 through FYE 2010, while Pacifica as a whole lost $5.5 million. Stations have met their payrolls by not paying their share of network-wide expenses (Central Services)—for Democracy Now!, the Pacifica Radio Archives, our insurance, our auditors, etc. Stations have also used the National Office as a “bank” to advance sums for their expenses—health premiums, legal expenses, pension fund contributions, etc. As a result, Pacifica national is carrying almost $3.4 million in accounts receivable from the stations, and $1.3 million in debts to outside creditors. This cannot continue.
If KPFA and Pacifica are to survive, then people must work together to solve our problems. KPFA’s programming must be revitalized. I’m proud of the work this past year of many people at KPFA in extremely difficult circumstances—especially the volunteers at the “Morning Mix” and the interim Manager and Program Director, Andrew Phillips & Carrie Core. They are bringing in new voices and perspectives and building new audiences for KPFA.
But at the same time “KPFAWorker/SaveKPFA” is driving away listeners and donors with their constant negative campaign. Many listeners are sick of it and tuning us out and finding more positive things to support. A media revolution is underway. The Occupy Movement is demanding and creating it. KPFA & Pacifica can either open our doors and be a hub for it, or sink in our own mire.
I do believe regeneration is possible. I call on everyone to put down their swords and find ways to solve our problems together.
Feel free to respond to Arlene Engelhardt’s post. Gratuitous and expletive laden attacks will be cheerfully deleted. Commentaries filled with URL links will sit in our spam queue until we notice them. —Editor
March 30, 2012 at 7:31 am
The Fog City Journal should not print propaganda without doing fact-checking first. The article is flat wrong on several counts.
The Pacifica Foundation has used Jackson Lewis in lawsuits filed AGAINST them that are or are going to exceed the insurance deductible. They are restrained from using any attorneys in these cases but those on the insurance company short list. They are all union-busting employer side attorneys.
The handful of cases has nothing to do with the unions. They are disputes with former managerial exempt employees, not members of bargaining units. Jackson Lewis has settled 2 cases and is working on two more and have been doing so since 2009. Members of the CWA and AFTRA sit on Pacifica’s board and approved and voted for the retentions and settlements with Jackson Lewis that they now scream about.
At Berkeley’s KPFA, over 25 grievances, National Labor Relations board complaints and arbitrations have been filed by the CWA local..
Jackson Lewis was not used on a single one of those matters. They used Folger-Levin, a firm used by KQED, the Fine Arts Museums of SF, and the SF Jewish Community Center, among other community organizations. All 25 complaints were resolved in Pacifica’s favor – including 5 straight times at the National Labor Relations Board.
What the CWA isn’t telling you is they are backing a slate in KPFA’s political election. This is an attempt to get you to vote for the slate they prefer. Election year propaganda. Don’t fall for it. More at http://www.supportkpfa.org
March 30, 2012 at 5:11 am
The hiring by Pacifica Radio of the notorious union busting law firm Jackson Lewis is appalling. Once again the move towards corporate silencing is trying to bring down KPFA. Listeners will not tolerate this. We are resisting the destruction of our freedoms on all fronts and this is yet another one. Expect resistance.
March 30, 2012 at 12:30 am
This story is completely deceptive nonsense being drummed up by a clique of union workers who usurped a previous union at KPFA so that they could disenfranchise non-paid staff at the station (80% of the workers) from labor protections that they were previously granted, and from making decisions about the station and its programming. This clique also managed to get rid of the community programming advisory board in order to entrench decision making on programming to only themselves the paid staff (no community or non paid volunteer decision makers).
This faction, deceptively calling itself ‘Save KPFA’ (stealing the name of a previous group that really -did- save KPFA from a hostile takeover in the 90s) is also trying to eject from the KPFA Local Station Board, long time media justice organizer and Media Alliance leader Tracy Rosenberg in order to gain majority voting power on the LSB so that it can dominate the station.
To get a sense of the real story about what’s going on at KPFA go to: http://www.stopthekpfarecall.org/?p=476
And to see a damning report about how that small clique of workers pointing fingers about law firms previously launched its own cynical lawsuit against Pacifica, hiring none other than Harmeet Dhillon, local Republican powerhouse, Bush/Cheney co-campaign chair, and Sarah Palin supporter, to attack Pacifica in the courts, go to: http://danielborgstrom.blogspot.com/2011/05/kpfas-republican-activist.html
March 30, 2012 at 12:17 am
Thank you for covering this story. It comes as Pacifica (the corporation that owns KPFA and 4 other radio stations) continues to drive some of its best programmers out.
Pacifica’s national board has been taken over by those responsible for these anti-worker actions, and is currently running roughshod over KPFA. Listeners at KPFA are organizing a strong campaign for local autonomy. Hundreds of listeners have signed petitions to hold a recall vote on the worse offender on the national board, Treasurer Tracy Rosenberg. (Find out more at http://www.SaveKPFA.org.) If you are a current listener member you should receive a ballot for the vote.
If you’re a former KPFA or Pacifica listener whose let your membership lapse, please renew it (minimum $25/yr) and vote in this fall’s local station elections. The local station reps you elect will determine who sits on Pacifica’s national board.
KPFA Worker is a coalition of unpaid and paid staff, along with union and community supporters. We invite you to visit us at http://www.KPFAWorker.org to sign up for our newsletter. Or sign up for updates at the community group SaveKPFA.org or friend them on Facebook.