NABET-CWA Charges NPR with Labor Law Violation

NABET-CWA members at National Public Radio are urging elected officials and other newsmakers not to give interviews to NPR if the field production is not being done by a NABET-CWA represented technician.

Nearly 100 skilled technical workers, members of CWA Local 52031, have been trying for several months to reach a fair agreement with NPR management. Workers rejected a management proposal in December that would have jeopardized jobs and quality at the radio network, and management now has acted to undermine the contract, said Local President Mark Peach.

NABET-CWA filed an unfair labor practice charge against NPR management for assigning a producer - a non-technical employee - to conduct an interview with U.S. Senator Evan Bayh on Jan. 17 and to perform the technical and quality control work normally done by a NABET-CWA employee. Bayh's office cancelled the interview when it learned of the labor dispute.

The technicians work in Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

"Management wants to shift greater amounts of what is highly skilled work to non-technical employees. This demand not only is contrary to NPR management's own policies requiring that it meet industry standards, but is an insult to the skilled and talented technicians that are responsible for a quality product," said Peach.

Peach also raised those concerns in a letter to NPR member stations, alerting them that NPR management, by demanding sub-standard work practices, "has said that quality no longer matters." This stance jeopardizes the quality product that stations and loyal listeners expect, he said.

Peach asked member stations and newsmakers to contact NPR to urge management to get back to the bargaining table and negotiate a fair agreement that acknowledges the critical role of technicians in producing a quality network.

For more information on the dispute, go to nabet31.com and click on the NPR link.