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May 1, 2015 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
NORTHWEST
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Unions protest anti-union moves by KGW
Three local unions held a public
rally April 25 in Pioneer Court-
house Square to publicize their
growing dispute with Portland’s
KGW television station.
KGW is owned by the media
chain Gannett, which is propos-
ing to eliminate union jurisdic-
tion in contract bargaining with
International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers (IBEW) Lo-
cal 48, International Alliance of
Theatrical Stage Employees
(IATSE) Local 600, and Screen
Actors Guild-American Federa-
tion of Television and Radio
Artists (SAG-AFTRA). Elimi-
nating union jurisdiction would
mean that union contract terms
would apply only to current
union members, and the com-
pany could hire new employees
to do the same work under dif-
ferent terms.
Dave Twedell, business repre-
sentative for IATSE Local 600,
said the jurisdiction proposal
would pave the way for the sta-
tion to diminish the quality of
news by using work from non-
professionals. Twedell said Gan-
nett’s business moves could also
have wider consequences: Cor-
porate raider Carl Icahn owns a
chunk of Gannett stock, and may
push for the company to sell off
rights to some TV broadcast fre-
quencies to cell phone providers.
“Our members don’t want to
lose their jobs,” Twedell said,
“but more importantly, this com-
munity cannot afford to lose this
station. It’s not an asset that be-
longs to Carl Icahn. It belongs to
all of us.”
Gannett announced April 22
that it’s spinning off its broadcast
division into a new company un-
der the name Tegna, which in-
cludes letters from the name
Gannett.
“Basically they laid off two
letters [in the new name], and
they haven’t been able to find
work yet,” quipped State Rep.
Lew Frederick (D-Portland), one
of three local elected officials
who spoke in support of workers
at the rally. Frederick was him-
self a KGW employee for 17
years, and a board member of
AFTRA for 15. When he was a
broadcast journalist, Frederick
said, all four local network-affil-
iated TV stations had on-air em-
ployees in AFTRA; today only
one does.
Rally-goers also heard from
Lory Olson, a television news
videographer at KOIN-TV.
Workers there are members of
the National Association of
Broadcast Employees & Techni-
cians (NABET), a division of
the Communications Workers of
America (CWA), but they’ve
been without a union contract
since their last one expired in
mid-2013.
State Sen. Michael Dembrow
(D-Portland), and Multnomah
County Commissioner Judy
Shiprack also spoke at the rally,
and union blues musician Nor-
man Sylvester and his band—
members of Musicians Local 99
—performed.
Multnomah County Chair
Deb Kafoury said she couldn’t
be at the rally, but said in a letter
that she supports their effort to
hold Gannett to community
standards.
Duane Hansen, SAG-AF-
TRA local president, said the
tough negotiations come in a
broader context of an employer
war on workers.
“If we’re going to have a mid-
dle class 10 years from now,”
Hansen said. “It’s going to be
because people like me and you
stand up and do what’s right.”