Fighting the Attack on GOOD JOBS: Technology, FCC Threaten Broadcast Jobs

Technology, greed and an anti-regulatory fervor among American broadcast corporations made the radio disc jockey all but extinct well before "outsourcing" became a household word.

Most radio work today is computerized, digitized, broadcast from hundreds or thousands of miles away. It's repetitive, bland and a case study for what could happen –— some would say is happening — to television.

"It is a real threat," both to jobs and to the quality and diversity of programming that consumers want, said John Clark, president of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians-CWA.

"As the material becomes more digitized, you can be anywhere in the world doing this work, using lower-cost, non-union employees," Clark said. "Unless the television industry remains regulated to a large extent, it's going to become radio. You're going to see the watering down of the product."

The regulations are Federal Communications Commission rules that have been loosened over the years, allowing broadcasters to own almost limitless numbers of stations and multiple stations in a single town. With technology now requiring nothing more than a transmitter in a local community, employers can operate with a bare-bones staff in a consolidated location.

For instance, Sinclair Broadcast Group made headlines in 2004 for supplying its local TV stations across the country with canned news and conservative editorials, cutting back not only on local jobs but on the time available for local news and more diverse opinion.

And like so many other industries, broadcasters now have an option in India. This spring, a large Indian television network working with an outsourcing company — owned by General Electric — began offering editing, post-production and archive work to U.S. companies, saying it could cut costs by at least 20 percent.

Clark said he doesn't know of any broadcasting companies that have signed on, but the union is keeping a close eye on the situation. Theoretically, he said a local TV station could outsource all its technical work, be it to a consolidated station in town or an Indian company. "Technologically, it would work," he said. "I'm not sure what kind of a product you would get but a lot of these companies don't really care about that."

Many broadcasting jobs today are what the industry calls "daily hires." Although they don't have job security, NABET-CWA hasn't let employers get away with treating them like contract workers with low pay and no benefits. Instead, the union has negotiated good, even exceptional packages for them at the networks.

The "gold standard," say Clark and Gary Singleman, secretary of NABET-CWA Local 59053, is the contract at Fox Digital in southern California. Singleman, an audio mixer who does promos for such shows as 24 and American Idol, is one of several hundred people who regularly work as daily hires for Fox.

Their contract gives them a 20 percent premium for being a daily hire, medical and retirement coverage through the entertainment industry's flex plan, paid time off after working 1,000 hours in each of two consecutive years, and other benefits.

Clark said strong contracts protect not just local workers and their jobs but the quality of broadcasting for viewers. Beyond bargaining, he said what's needed most is public pressure on the Congress and the FCC, which is once again poised to relax media ownership rules.

JANELLE HARTMAN

Audio mixer Gary Singleman, secretary of NABET-CWA Local 59053, is one of several hundred "daily hires" who have an exceptionally strong contract at Fox Digital in Los Angeles. Protecting daily hires is one way the union is fighting for good jobs as more broadcasting companies eliminate staff positions.