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Illinois Broadcasting Members Picket for Decent Contract

January 31, 2012

Working for more than a year under an expired contract, 20 IBEW engineers at WMBD TV channel 31, in Peoria, Ill., have taken their dispute to the street, holding informational pickets to draw public support across a city that is home to Caterpillar and other large, union-organized manufacturers.

Members of Springfield Local 51 unanimously rejected an April contract offer from Texas-based Nexstar Broadcasting Co.  Their activities are being closely followed by fellow members at Nextstar’s Fox-affiliated WQRF in Rockford, Ill., represented by Chicago Local 1220, who have also been working under an expired contract since June 2010.

Local 51 broadcast engineers are challenging a company contract proposal that would undermine their bargaining unit by sanctioning the reassignment of some camera operator work to a non-bargaining unit manager and IBEW members in lower paid classifications, violating a prior arbitration in their favor. 

Engineers at the CBS network affiliate—purchased from Midwest Television in 1999—would also lose sick leave many had accrued over long years of service and would not be entitled to any retroactive wage increases since the contract’s expiration.  Says Local 51 Shop Steward Rick Jarvis, a six-year WMBD employee:

Some of our members have worked for the station for 25 to 30 years.  Taking their sick leave away is a slap in the face to people who have been loyal to their employer all those years. I can’t imagine why you would want to do that to workers who rarely call in sick.

Company stonewalling led to Local 51 filing a complaint at the National Labor Relations Board in December charging Nexstar with failing to bargain in good faith.  The complaint helped to reinstate negotiating sessions, but Local 51 Business Representative Rod Brandt says workers are not satisfied with the progress addressing their issues, including honoring past practices. The 2010 arbitration settlement covering the reassignment of stationary camera work had included a back pay award.

Local 51 utility branch members who work an hour away at the Spoon River Electrical Cooperative came out to support the engineers’ informational picket, returning similar help they received in the past from broadcasting branch members.  The Peoria Journal Star and an NBC-affiliated TV station have also reported on the contract dispute. The local has sent letters to 48 political leaders and to major local advertisers asking for support.

Mayor Troy Childers of nearby Chillicothe has sent a letter to Nextstar supporting a fair resolution of the contract dispute.

Nexstar is determined to break the bargaining unit in Rockford, 200 miles north of Peoria, says Local 1220 Business Manager John Rizzo.  Local 1220 also filed an NLRB unfair labor practice complaint against the company. Nextstar's anti-union approach was evident from the time the company purchased WQRF using their subsidiary, Mission Broadcasting, fromYoung Broadcastingin 2004.Says Rizzo:

They act like they bought our members, not just a station. Turnover at the station is high because of low pay. Every quarter the company announces record profits, but they offered our members a .35 percent raise and increased it to .50 percent and said ‘Take it or leave it.’

The company, says Rizzo, buys up small stations in rural markets and mostly airs nationally-produced shows mixed with a few local newscasts, high school football games and hockey coverage. Nextstar banks on hiring local talent who want to move to larger media markets and are hesitant to speak up for better pay and working conditions, fearful that they will limit future opportunities in broadcasting, says Rizzo. He adds:

I’ve had better success bargaining in good faith with some media companies that are in bankruptcy. Nexstar is run by cheapskates who want to eliminate our union security clause and operate an open shop.

Other IBEW units at Nexstar-owned stations include a group of 12 photographers and directors at WMBD, represented by Local 51 and broadcast personnel at CBS-affiliated KOLR, represented by Springfield, Mo. Local 453.

In 2011, James Appleby, business manager, Local 453, finalized tough negotiations with Nextstar on a new three-year contract covering 50 members at KOLR. Says Appleby:

Our members are real dedicated employees who like their work. It’s a shame that Nexstar’s contribution to their monthly healthcare insurance costs is so low that many go without healthcare insurance altogether.