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After Three Years,
Chicago
Station Agrees to Contract
March 2005 IBEW
Journal
Chicago Local
1220 members employed by superstation WGN-Channel
9 finally ratified a collective bargaining agreement
in late December after years of stalled talks and a poisoned
atmosphere.
"Its tough going to
work every day for three years without a contract," said
IBEW Broadcasting Department Director Peter Homes, who
participated in the last round of talks. "Hopefully
now theyll have a little peace."
The 170 members in the uniteditors,
technical directors, engineers, camera operators and audio/video
techniciansquickly approved the contract after it had
been negotiated by the team led by Homes and Local
1220 Business Manager Robert "Ro" Wratschko
in mid-December. Two previous proposed agreements had been
rejected by the members.
International President
Edwin D. Hill intervened to help get talks restarted by
talking to company officials. With that momentum, he then
sent Homes to Chicago to jumpstart negotiations. After
three years without raises, the workers were given a 3
percent hike upon ratification, and will receive 3 percent
raises every six months until the expiration date in 2008.
The contract was backdated to the expiration of the last
agreement, June 30, 2001.
Bad faith bargaining plagued
the talks for months, union leaders said. Owned by the
Tribune Company, the station would only agree to occasional
bargaining with management officials who had no decision-making
authority.
"Station management
had their own agenda during this negotiation and considered
nothing of what the union was looking for," Wratschko
said. "They were very one-sided."
Management also sought to
take advantage of changes in the locals leadership to
stall talks. Wratschko is the third Local
1220 business manager to coordinate the talks.
After President Hills intervention,
the company finally agreed to an intense round of talks
December 13-15.
The bargaining unit strongly
objected to changes the station sought in vacation policy
and seniority rules. Wratschko said the union was able
to fend off efforts to dilute seniority rights, but the
station flatly refused to negotiate on the vacation accrual
policy. "We were the last business unit in the country
that that had not converted to the new policy," Wratschko
said. "All of their bargaining and non-bargaining
units agreed to it."
Pension benefits increased
in the new agreement and members also won better wage rates.
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