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Puerto Rican Members Fight for Jobs at Univision
CWA-represented Univision employees in Puerto Rico are fighting back against the anti-union Spanish-language television giant in its attempt to subcontract work and use the studio facilities for non-union production projects.
The wall-to-wall unit in San Juan has 132 members who had a strong contract with their previous owner, a local entity that sold the station to Univision in 2002. The employees held a nine-hour informational picket outside the San Juan building on Jan. 16, marching on breaks, lunch hours and after work. They were joined by fellow union members, keeping the picket line strong all day.
The contract between the station and union, known as UPAGRA, CWA Local 33225, expired more than a year ago, and the local reports no progress at the bargaining table. Univision is trying to take away the right of union members' to fill open positions, no matter how qualified the workers are for the jobs.
The union fears that the company's attempt to turn members' work over to subcontractors is a step toward importing all programming and getting rid of UPAGRA altogether.
"They want to put the corporate policies that they have in the United States in effect in Puerto Rico and fill the jobs from here with people from outside," UPAGRA President Néstor Soto said.
Univision has tried similar union-busting tactics at stations on the mainland. In 2000, it took a 43-day hunger strike by workers in Fresno to force the company to bargain a contract. The unit has since dissolved because of Univision's unrelenting union busting.
CWA represents about a thousand Univision workers in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and San Juan. In addition, CWA is bargaining a first contract in Albuquerque with a Univision-affiliated group.
The wall-to-wall unit in San Juan has 132 members who had a strong contract with their previous owner, a local entity that sold the station to Univision in 2002. The employees held a nine-hour informational picket outside the San Juan building on Jan. 16, marching on breaks, lunch hours and after work. They were joined by fellow union members, keeping the picket line strong all day.
The contract between the station and union, known as UPAGRA, CWA Local 33225, expired more than a year ago, and the local reports no progress at the bargaining table. Univision is trying to take away the right of union members' to fill open positions, no matter how qualified the workers are for the jobs.
The union fears that the company's attempt to turn members' work over to subcontractors is a step toward importing all programming and getting rid of UPAGRA altogether.
"They want to put the corporate policies that they have in the United States in effect in Puerto Rico and fill the jobs from here with people from outside," UPAGRA President Néstor Soto said.
Univision has tried similar union-busting tactics at stations on the mainland. In 2000, it took a 43-day hunger strike by workers in Fresno to force the company to bargain a contract. The unit has since dissolved because of Univision's unrelenting union busting.
CWA represents about a thousand Univision workers in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and San Juan. In addition, CWA is bargaining a first contract in Albuquerque with a Univision-affiliated group.