Wisconsin Broadcast
Workers Vote IBEW
May 31, 2005
Twenty five broadcast employees of WGBA in Green Bay, Wisconsin now have a voice on the job after a worker reached out to the IBEW through the organizing section of the Web site.
As a result of the long-distance contact through the Internet, that new member and his co-workers, mostly full-time photojournalists and news production staff, quickly signed authorization cards. Less than three months later, they unanimously chose the IBEW in the April 1 National Labor Relations Board election, in a lopsided 18-0 vote.
On the day of the polling, Milwaukee Local 715 Business Manager Chris Albrecht said, "they just kept pulling out ’yes’ votes."
The workers, who will be members of Local 715 once a contract is signed, were troubled about their treatment by management after the family-owned station was recently acquired by Journal Broadcast Group. Specifically, overtime, hours and scheduling were the main issues, ranking far higher than wages or benefits in their list of peeves.
The workers were highly motivated and solid, basically organizing themselves, Albrecht said.
"The employees predicted this," said Sixth District International Representative Mary Harrigan. "They were pretty confident."
The person who originally reached out to the IBEW contacted the union through the organizing section of the IBEW’s Web site, completing an online form requesting basic information in late January. The International Office quickly forwarded that information on to Local 715, which launched the successful organizing campaign.
Albrecht has organized three stations in the last couple years, Harrigan said. "He’s taking President Hill’s mandate to organize pretty seriously," he said.
WGBA-TV is an NBC affiliate, one of two local stations in Green Bay owned by Journal Broadcast Group. The company operates television and radio stations in the Midwest and West, including Las Vegas station KTNV, which was successfully organized by IBEW Local 45 in December. That win – the first for any station in Las Vegas – helped pique the Green Bay workers’ interest in the IBEW, Harrigan said.
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IBEW Local 715
