What is union-busting?

Posted on April 28, 2012 by KPFA Worker

By law, employers aren’t supposed to intimidate, coerce, or fire employees for exercising their democratic rights to act collectively with their coworkers. Yet many employers do it anyway — often with the help of outside union-busting consultants like Jackson Lewis.

See these general examples of union-busting. Do you recognize any of these patterns at KPFA or Pacifica? Write them in the comments field below, or if you prefer, send them to us in an email. In the future, we’ll publish them if you give us permission (be sure to let us know if you want your name withheld or not). Thanks!

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KPFA workers and listeners rally against union busting firm

Posted on April 20, 2012 by KPFA Worker

On Wednesday, April 18, listeners joined KPFA’s paid and unpaid staff for a spirited picket of the station’s parent organization, Pacifica Radio, to raise their voices against the network’s hiring of infamous anti-union law firm, Jackson Lewis.

The firm was hired on a retainer for “general labor and employment issues” for the Pacifica network at the urging of executive director Arlene Engelhardt. The AFL-CIO calls the firm the nation’s “number one union-buster.”

Unpaid staffer Tina Bachemin with CWA steward Antonio Ortiz.

Tina Bachemin, KPFA news reporter and unpaid staff member, was one of many unpaid staff members at the picket, and addressed the picketers with a statement of solidarity.  “I see this issue as part of the bitter struggle that’s going on now across America to smash unionism and wage war against workers,” she told the crowd.  “Whether it’s an attempt to take away collective bargaining rights of the public workers in Wisconsin or an attempt to block SEIU janitors and maids from organizing in San Francisco hotels, this issue of whether a law firm with a reputation for union busting should represent Pacifica is part of that same struggle.”

KPFA's Luis Medina.

Over 2000 listeners and staff have signed a petition telling Pacifica to ditch Jackson Lewis. KPFA’s Local Station Board has passed a resolution unanimously calling on Pacifica to drop the firm. Sister station KPFK’s Local Station Board in Los Angeles soon followed with its own resolution.

Graphic donated by Lew Friedman.

Other speakers included labor journalist Steve Early, KPFA news staffer and CWA member Brian Edwards-Tiekert, and CWA District 9 organizer Libby Sayre. Members from a range of unions turned out to support KPFA’s paid staff, including from the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW),  the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, (ILWU), the National Union of Health Care Workers (NUHW), the Pacific Media Workers Guild/CWA, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and University Professional & Technical Employees (UPTE).

KPFA’s paid workers are represented by Communications Workers of America Local 9415. Find more photos of the picket here. The Pacifica Evening News covered the picket, and you can hear that story HERE.

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Join us for a picket against Pacifica’s use of Jackson Lewis

Posted on April 11, 2012 by KPFA Worker

WHEN: Wednesday, April 18, noon-1pm
WHY:  Picket to demand that our radio network stay true to its principles and reverse the hiring of legal consultants Jackson Lewis, which the AFL-CIO calls the nation’s “number one union-buster.” Learn more here.
WHERE: in front of Pacifica’s offices at 1929 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Berkeley (that’s the KPFA building). Bring yourself, your friends, and if you like, some signs and noisemakers. See you there!

Workers at KPFA Radio will be marking its 63rd birthday this week not with a party, but with a picket. 

KPFA’s union recently found out that Pacifica hired Jackson Lewis on retainer for its 5-station radio network. The network’s executive director, Arlene Engelhardt, has admitted in a blog that Jackson Lewis was hired by Pacifica years ago, writing glowingly that it had “saved us money” and had done “an exemplary job.” Engelhardt is the manager who killed KPFA’s most listened-to program, the Morning Show, which cost KPFA over $8,000 a day in revenue.

A union-sponsored petition against the hire of Jackson Lewis has quickly garnered over 1700 signatures from Pacifica listeners and staff. It reads, in part: “We are outraged that Pacifica is spending listener donations, intended to fund community radio, on a notorious union-busting firm. This is completely unacceptable for a member-supported nonprofit that prides itself on its progressive history and values. The Pacifica Foundation and National Board must end their relationship with Jackson Lewis immediately.”

Stewards for KPFA’s union staff, who are represented by the Communications Workers of America Local 9415, sent the petition’s signatures to the Pacifica National Board — an elected body comprised of delegates from each of the network’s stations — before its April 13 meeting. KPFA’s Local Station Board had also unanimously passed a resolution the same week declaring it “unacceptable for a single penny of listener contributions to be spent on the most notorious union-busting law firm in the country,” and demanding Pacifica severe ties with Jackson Lewis.

Pacifica board members refuse to listen

Hundreds of KPFA listeners also sent messages as part of an action alert by SaveKPFA.org. For instance, long-time KPFA listener Charlene Woodcock wrote to Pacifica’s board: “What’s going on with Pacifica? You don’t represent our values or our interests. You arrogantly disregard our wishes in your interference with valued programming, such as the Morning Show. One has to wonder if you’re trying to destroy the station, as was the Pacifica board ten years ago.”

But in their April 13 meeting, members of the Pacifica National Board did not even bother to discuss the issue about which so many listeners had voiced outrage. Instead, the PNB spent 45 minutes discussing a motion from KPFK/Los Angeles delegate Ken Aaron to block emails from concerned KPFA members as “spam” so that board members would not have to see them. KPFA delegate Andrea Turner pointed out that a member-driven nonprofit founded to advance free speech shouldn’t be scared of communications from listeners: “We should be thankful that someone is out there really concerned about what we are doing,” she said, noting that Pacifica’s board has a duty to hear from its members. The move to block listener emails was defeated by a one-vote margin.

The only KPFA delegate on the Pacifica National Board voting to block emails from listeners was Tracy Rosenberg, who is the target of a pending recall vote. You can listen to Pacifica’s meeting part 1, part 2 and part 3 (the discussion about blocking listener emails starts about 10 minutes into part 2 and continues thru the end of the meeting.)

Let them here from you too: click here to send an email demanding Pacifica terminate all contracts with Jackson Lewis. And, if you are in the Bay Area, please join us for a spirited picket on Wednesday, April 18 at noon outside of Pacifica’s offices (same building as KPFA at 1929 Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Berkeley).

Posted in CWA 9415, financial, KFPT, KPFA, KPFK, labor, Pacifica, union busting, WBAI, WPFW | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Pacifica hires notorious union-busting legal firm of Jackson Lewis

Posted on March 13, 2012 by KPFA Worker

saveourstationKPFA’s parent organization, the Pacifica Foundation, has hired Jackson Lewis, a notorious anti-union law firm which the AFL-CIO calls “America’s number one union-buster.”  The multimillion-dollar corporate firm specializes in what it calls ”preventative practices” — that is, advising managers how to obstruct workers from successfully forming unions and undermining existing unions. “Under its polished veneer lies a for-profit union-buster,” writes the nonprofit American Rights at Work, “one of the oldest and largest” such firms in the nation.

Last week, the union representing KPFA’s workers, Communications Workers of America Local 9415, became aware of Jackson Lewis’ hire by Pacifica at all five stations in the network – KPFA in the San Francisco Bay Area, KPFK in Los Angeles, KPFT in Houston, WPFW in Washington D.C., and WBAI in New York. At a meeting of KPFA’s bargaining unit, the station’s union workers voted to demand that the Pacifica National Board immediately terminate its arrangement with Jackson Lewis, and sent a letter to all members of Pacifica’s board to that effect. The board chose not to take action to reverse its employment of the union-buster.

“We see the entry of Jackson Lewis as a declaration of war on the unions that represent Pacifica workers,” wrote KPFA’s union stewards. “We fear it will lead to unnecessary legal expenses the network can ill afford, sour Pacifica’s already dismal relationship with its union workers, and alienate many listener-supporters who do not want their donations to be handed over to one of organized labor’s greatest enemies in the United States.”  | SIGN PETITION against union busting at Pacifica

Undermining workers’ rights, illegally firing union leaders
Jackson Lewis, which has 48 offices around the country, holds seminars for employers on how to maintain a “union free environment.” One such seminar was profiled in In These Times. Jackson Lewis also advises employers on mastering corporate “concerns” with the Americans with Disabilities Act, including targeting workers who take medical leave.

honorlabor_rosieThe letter from KPFA’s union stewards cited a New York Times investigation into anti-union practices of the company EnerSys, which followed the advice of Jackson Lewis.  EnerSys eventually sued Jackson Lewis for malpractice and advising the company to violate the law. Under Jackson Lewis’ direction, EnerSys illegally fired union leaders, spied on workers, and finally closed the plant as an act of retribution against the union.

“The modus operandi of firms like Jackson Lewis,” wrote KPFA’s union stewards, “is to counsel their clients to take hard-line stances against unions — reject all bargaining demands, reject even the most basic grievances — and then rack up billable hours representing those clients in the ensuing arbitrations and National Labor Relations Board hearings.” The company boasts of the accolades it has received from a survey of Fortune 1000 companies as “the single highest-ranked firm clients want by their side in employment battles.” Jackson Lewis expanded during the economic crisis, its gross revenue increasing by 15% in 2010 to more than $295 million (and by 10% in 2009 and 20% in 2008).

Stand in solidarity with KPFA’s workers! 
For many KPFA listeners and staff, Pacifica’s latest move brings back memories of their struggle against Pacifica management over a decade ago, in which Pacifica hired an anti-union consultant and then installed armed guards, eventually locking out its entire staff and shutting down the station. The new agreement with Jackson Lewis comes on top of over $100,000 KPFA has already spent on other anti-union legal consultants.

stand-with-kpfa-workersIf you are a member of a union, we ask that you get your local union or labor council to pass a resolution condemning Pacifica’s hire of one of the country’s top union-busters.

As an individual, please sign this petition demanding that Pacifica drop Jackson Lewis immediately.  And please take a moment to ask your friends on Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere to do the same.  Stay tuned for updates!

 

Posted in CWA 9415, KFPT, KPFA, KPFK, labor, Pacifica, union busting, WBAI, WPFW | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pacifica bounces paychecks and breaks promise to obey labor law

Posted on February 8, 2012 by KPFA Worker

Last month, workers around the Pacifica network, including KPFA, deposited their paychecks — and were shocked to have them bounce. KPFA had sufficient funds to cover its payroll, but Pacifica pools the payroll money of its five stations, and did not warn KPFA that whoever deposited their checks last would end up with a bounced check fine.

Stewards from Communications Workers of America Local 9415, which represents KPFA’s union workers, wrote a letter to Pacifica’s Executive Director Arlene Engelhardt and Chief Financial Officer LaVarn Williams reminding them that bouncing paychecks is a crime. (Read entire letter here.)

“We have advised the workers who draw pay at KPFA to report Pacifica to the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement should any of their paychecks bounce,” wrote Antonio Ortiz, Sasha Lilley, and Philip Maldari. “This will trigger automatic financial penalties for Pacifica, and may result in criminal charges against Pacifica employees responsible for bouncing paychecks.” Pacifica has still not responded to their email.

The check bouncing follows a pension scandal late last year in which Pacifica illegally dipped into the 403(b) retirement accounts of its workers at KPFA and across the network.  After KPFA’s union reported Pacifica to the Department of Labor, Pacifica’s Engelhardt stated that workers would be paid interest on the money that it had withheld from them and that payments would be made in a timely manner.

However, KPFA’s union has found that Pacifica continues to illegally withhold the contributions of its workers, even following Engelhardt’s public statement.  In the month of January, Pacifica withdrew payments from the salaries of its workers, but did not deposit them into their 403(b) accounts.

Pacifica management appears blithely indifferent to breaking the law, whether its KPFA’s union contract or state and federal laws regulating workplace pay and retirement accounts.  Despite hiring high price law firms to attempt to clean up it messes, Pacifica continues to play fast and loose with the rights of its workers.

Support KPFA’s workers during Winter Fund Drive!

KPFA is in the midst of its Winter Fund Drive.  While Pacifica and KPFA management continue to ignore the will of listeners in running the station, it’s important that those who care about the station keep supporting it financially.  Management and its supporters like Pacifica treasurer Tracy Rosenberg appear intent on defunding the station by eliminating the programs that raise the most money, so as to shrink the number of union workers at KPFA.  Hence, it’s crucial that listeners continue to support the station financially.

Donating $25 or more makes you eligible to vote in this autumn’s elections for the Local Station Board. You can donate online here.

 

Posted in Antonio Ortiz, Arlene Engelhardt, CWA 9415, financial, fundraising, labor, Pacifica, pensions, Philip Maldari, Sasha Lilley, Tracy Rosenberg | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

KPFA’s interim general manager abuses station’s email list for partisan purposes

Posted on January 24, 2012 by KPFA Worker

While Pacifica continues to stall the listener-initiated recall process, KPFA’s interim general manager is pouring out incorrect and highly-partisan material onto KPFA’s own subscriber email list, in violation of the network’s fair election rules.

On December 26, 2011, Andrew Leslie Phillips, who was appointed by Pacifica over the objections of local board members, prefaced his end-of-year fund pitch with a rant blaming the station’s union workers, falsely, for $200,000 in costs spent “defending [KPFA] from grievances.”

In response to KPFA union steward Philip Maldari, Phillips agreed to post a correction in his next message which arrived in members email on January 15, 2012. But the so called “correction” was part of a long message in which Phillips threw himself into the middle of the on-going recall election, in spite of the fact that as he himself noted, the Pacifica by-laws require him to remain neutral. Phillips received responses to his most recent message from the Communications Workers of America (CWA), a number of KPFA staff members, and from the majority of the Local Station Board.

“Your email is inaccurate and offensive,” wrote Christina Huggins of CWA 9415 which represents KPFA’s unionized staff. “You continue to paint yourself and fellow KPFA management as ‘victims’ of our Union. There you were, just standing around trying to ‘do good’ and the Union attacked you. Not so. Any actions taken by our Union have to do with our legal and moral obligation to represent our members. We respond to your actions, not the other way around.” (Read her entire letter here.)

CWA is demanding a public retraction on behalf of KPFA’s workers. Huggins added, “We have never had such a contentious relationship with KPFA management in the entire history of representing the paid staff–and it is not the Union representatives who have changed.” KPFA has spent over $80,000 on anti-union lawyers, a fact that has outraged listeners.

“It’s this attitude by the interim general manager that led to the local board’s overwhelming vote of ‘no confidence’ in him,” said one KPFA staffer. “Andrew has demonstrated an anti-union bias from the day he stepped through the station’s doors, and he’s spent most of his time trying to create divisions between the unpaid and paid staff.” Phillips has a history of inappropriate behavior toward KPFA’s staff.

KPFA’s local elected board members are also speaking out. Chair Margy Wilkinson, writing on behalf of the board majority, said Phillips’ message “repeats, almost word-for-word, the campaign propaganda of the anti-recall campaign.” Calling his words “a thinly-veiled partisan intervention in an election that you yourself said station management is supposed to stay out of,” Wilkinson demanded equal access to KPFA’s email list for a rebuttal. (Read entire letter here.)

It is illegal under Pacifica’s bylaws to use station resources to influence elections. “It also shows very poor judgment from one of the people we’re supposed to look to heal KPFA,” said another KPFA worker.

Still no word from Pacifica on mailing the ballots to listener-members in the recall vote on board member Tracy Rosenberg. Under the network’s election rules, those ballots should have been mailed between December 15-30.

Posted in Andrew Phillips, CWA 9415, interim general manager, KPFA, KPFA unpaid staff, recall Tracy Rosenberg | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pacifica spins pension misappropriation, hires yet another law firm

Posted on December 16, 2011 by KPFA Worker

Two months after KPFA’s union discovered that the station’s parent corporation Pacifica was illegally raiding the 403b pension funds of its union members for as long as 18 months, the network has finally admitted to workers that “during the past few years employee contributions . . . were not deposited into your accounts on a timely basis.”

The pension contributions come from employees’ own earnings. Pacifica had been deducting money from paychecks but not always depositing it in individuals’ 403b accounts, a violation of federal law and a form of wage theft.

When the union made the pension scandal public in early October, Pacifica Treasurer Tracy Rosenberg (who also sits on KPFA’s local board and is facing a listener recall campaign) posted a letter from Executive Director Arlene Engelhardt erroneously claiming that just a single monthly payment had been missed and fixed. Rosenberg’s post hysterically accused those who raised questions of “bald faced lies” and even “destabilising radical radio.”

But union members had checked their pension statements and had evidence that the situation was much more serious. Last month, KPFA union steward Philip Maldari wrote the Pacifica National Board for a second time, stating “The diversion of retirement funds deducted from the participants’ pay checks is fraud.” He noted that the he had still not received a reply from either Engelhardt or Pacifica Chief Financial Officer LaVarn Williams. ”The Pacifica ED has stated on several occasions that the finances of the Foundation would be in much better shape if there weren’t so many legal battles to fight,” wrote Maldari. “I agree.  But there would be no need to hire lawyers and fight legal battles, if the Pacifica ED and CFO obeyed the law.”

Maldari stated on behalf of the union, CWA Local 9415, that KPFA’s paid workers expected to be “made whole,” that Pacifica guarantee that this not happen again, and that there be consequences for those who broke the law.

Pacifica (finally!) sent employees a “correction statement” in December admitting that 403b contributions were not deposited, but disingenuously claiming it was a “misunderstanding” and that Pacifica had not realized that it needed to deposit money withdrawn from its employees’ paychecks by the 15th of every month.

“This is alarming enough,” said one worker, “but even worse when you find out Pacifica has been taking money from employees wages and not depositing them into their pensions until months later.” The letter was presumably drafted by the new law firm, Trucker Huss, that Pacifica has hired to clean up its mess.

Pacifica’s letter gives no apology, and states that the misappropriated funds will not be returned into pension accounts until the end of this year. Pacifica says the station’s union workers, who make just $20 an hour, will get only the legally required 3.2% in interest on their misappropriated earnings, which is less than the rate of inflation.

In contrast, Pacifica pays the anti-union law firm Folger Levin, whose services are provided at the tidy sum of $400 an hour, an interest rate of 16.1% on unpaid balances. That makes it pretty clear which services current management seems to value more.

Posted in Arlene Engelhardt, CWA 9415, LaVarn Williams, pensions, Tracy Rosenberg | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Update on Pacifica pension raiding; Workers vote no confidence in management at KPFA sister station

Posted on November 22, 2011 by KPFA Worker

KPFA’s union workers are still waiting to get a full accounting of the extent to which parent corporation Pacifica illegally dipped into their pensions.  Paid workers discovered last month that Pacifica was taking money out of their paychecks but not depositing the money in their retirement accounts, which is a violation of federal law.  Christina Huggins, the first executive vice president of CWA Local 9415, which represents KPFA’s paid workers, calls such dealings “wage theft.” Pacifica claims it has restored the money it took out of workers’ accounts, but still has not notified affected employees, apologized to them, nor made them whole by paying them interest.

WPFW workers: No confidence in management

More than 80 unpaid and paid workers at KPFA’s sister station WPFW in Washington DC have taken a vote of no confidence in the general manager put in place by Pacifica ten months ago.  They accuse John Hughes, who was hired by Pacifica executive director Arlene Engelhardt, of refusing to meet with staff, increasing on air fundraising, and slashing the pay of union workers, while leaving managers’ salaries untouched.

“Mr. Hughes has shown a willingness to circumvent station bylaws, ignore process, and demonstrated an aloof and dismissive attitude to WPFW’s volunteer programmers and paid, union staff – whose salaries were cut by more than half in an austerity move – while the HR Director, Development Director and Business Manager maintained their full salaries,” stated radio host Robyn Holden, one of the signers of the “Letter of No Confidence.”

“The programmers at WPFW collectively represent the lifeblood of the station,” said Katea Stitt, WPFW’s Music Director. “The programmers are the frontline of integrity between our community of listeners and the station, so as a Pacifica Foundation station, how can we say we stand for principles of peace, social justice and righteous change when we’re faced with the antithesis of those principles right here in our own house?”

Posted in CWA 9415, financial, KPFA, KPFA unpaid staff, WPFW | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

KPFA union workers vote to support Oakland general strike

Posted on November 2, 2011 by KPFA Worker

KPFA’s union workers have passed a resolution endorsing the Oakland general strike on November 2nd and supporting the movements across the country opposing corporate greed.

“KPFA’s union stands in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement around the country and supports the Oakland general strike and day of mass action,” read the statement passed by the station’s bargaining unit.

The station’s paid staff, who are represented by CWA Local 9415, have been working in coalition with unpaid staff and listeners to return local control, transparency and fiscal responsibility to KPFA and its parent network, Pacifica.

KPFA’s union workers recently discovered that Pacifica has been raiding their pension funds, in violation of federal law. Late last year, Pacifica violated KPFA’s union contract when it laid off workers from the popular Morning Show and subsequently hired an anti-union law firm at $400 an hour, forcing KPFA to pay tens of thousands of dollars to fight its own workers. KPFA management has also targeted unpaid staff who have critically reported on the actions of interim general manager Andrew Phillips.

Meanwhile, the listener petition submitted to KPFA/Pacifica demanding a recall vote on Pacifica treasurer Tracy Rosenberg is currently stalled by management. Given management’s conflict of interest, listeners have been signing this petition urging that Pacifica immediately delegate responsibility for oversight of the election to a neutral third-party.

KPFA will broadcast live from the Oakland general strike on Wednesday from 10am to 1pm and from 3 to 6pm.  The broadcasts can be heard at 94.1FM on KPFA in the San Francisco Bay Area, 88.1FM on KFCF in the Central Valley, and streaming online at kpfa.org.

Posted in CWA 9415, KPFA, KPFA recall, KPFA unpaid staff, Tracy Rosenberg | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

KPFA interim general manager promotes right-wing conspiracy theories

Posted on October 29, 2011 by KPFA Worker

Interim general manager Andrew Phillips promoted a questionable “thank you gift” to listeners who subscribed to the station during KPFA’s 2011 autumn fund drive.  On Wednesday, October 12th, Phillips hosted and pitched excerpts from Zeitgeist: The Movie, which combines speculation about the origins of Christianity with 9/11 conspiracy theories and far right-wing claims about the Federal Reserve and impending world government.

The movie argues that no plane hit the Pentagon on September 11th and that elites have a plan to put mind-controlling Radio Frequency Identification microchips in people’s brains and, if they protest, stop them by turning off the chips. Ron Paul supporter Aaron Russo is featured in the film claiming that the Rockefellers are in on the nefarious ploy.  The film suggests that some people already have been duped into having microchips implanted in them.  Phillips, who referred to himself during the broadcast as “a conspiracy nut,” described the film as “extraordinary” and “loaded with an amazing potpourri of information.”

While the film was airing, listeners called KPFA to say they would no longer tune into a station that promoted such dubious material just to make money.

Posted in Andrew Phillips, censorship, interim general manager, KPFA | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment