REPORT: Nexstar Exposed for Abusive Working Conditions & Low Wages

Broadcasters’ union cites abuses at Nexstar in comments to FCC opposing changes to National Cap rules 

NATIONWIDE – As Nexstar Media Group spins tales for investors of growth fueled by hopes of deregulation, a new report exposes the harsh reality of Nexstar’s failure to keep pace with industry standards. A new report, Breaking the Story: The Real Cost of Low Wages at America’s Largest Broadcaster, documents the low wages at Nexstar through a survey of workers and analysis of labor market data.

The wages reported by workers indicate that Nexstar pays well below its peers in the industry—Nexstar pays 22% less than the median wage, on average, for the most common occupations surveyed. Workers also report that they have to skip breaks and often work in understaffed departments.

"When I started at my TV station over 30 years ago, I was under the belief that loyalty would be rewarded,” said Bob Pastecki, WROC. “I have found out that people that start out doing the same job I do at another union station in town have an hourly rate that starts $3.56 more per hour than I make after 30 years at my workplace. That’s more than $7,400 per year that would help me take care of my family.”

Meanwhile, Nexstar is very profitable and seeks to grow through more acquisitions of local broadcast stations. To do this, the company is actively lobbying to eliminate the federal cap on the number of stations a single company can own, a longstanding protection for localism and competition in the broadcast market.

The National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians–Communications Workers of America (NABET-CWA) also filed comments today with the Federal Communications Commission to strongly oppose removing or raising the National Cap that limits the consolidation of broadcast media companies. Findings in the report on Nexstar were cited in NABET-CWA’s comments to the FCC, arguing that removing the National Cap would cause tremendous harm to workers in the broadcast industry, where increased consolidation has already lowered standards—workers report poverty wages and worry about meeting basic financial obligations like housing, medical care, and groceries.

The new report on Nexstar wages is based on a survey conducted by NABET-CWA that found:

• The majority (62%) of Nexstar workers earn less than a living wage for their metro area for a single person without children, and 89% earn less than a living wage for their metro area for a single person with one child.
• A majority (63%) of workers rely on family, friends, or public assistance to get by.
• A majority of survey respondents feel financially insecure: 87% worried about meeting financial obligations sometimes (57%) or often (30%).
• The majority of survey respondents report delaying necessary medical care (55%) and buying groceries (53%) among their struggles to get by on Nexstar’s low wages.

Broadcasting workers at Nexstar are forming unions with NABET-CWA to address low wages and unsustainable working conditions. Workers at three stations in Rochester, New York; Denver, Colorado; and Henderson, Kentucky, and one production hub in Denver have recently won union elections, joining broadcast employees at thirty-five other bargaining units at Nexstar. NABET-CWA members work in all aspects of local news, including as on-air anchors, producers, directors, broadcast engineers, technicians, and others.

“I personally wanted to organize because of the fact that my coworkers were hurting. Hurting mentally, emotionally, physically & financially,” said Brody Shaffer, WEHT. “Before I was fired for exercising my protected rights & freedom of speech, what I enjoyed about my job was not just the work of creating commercials—I truly enjoyed the team I worked with. I loved so many things about my job. But the thing that’s really hard to replace is the people you did the work with.”

NABET-CWA is calling on Nexstar to negotiate fair contracts with its employees that provide livable wages. The union also urges Congress to prevent the Trump administration from eliminating the existing standards for broadcast ownership and calls on the FCC to stay firm against the industry’s efforts to change the current standards through rulemaking.

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About CWA & NABET-CWA: The Communications Workers of America represents working people in telecommunications, customer service, media, airlines, health care, public service and education, manufacturing, tech, and other fields. The National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians–Communications Workers of America (NABET-CWA) represents more than 10,000 workers in broadcasting and related industries.

cwa-union.org @cwaunion