Why support CAN TV Workers Rally on Wednesday? [June 15, Chicago]

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Why support CAN TV Workers Rally on Wednesday?


Chicago labor activists and friends:

Chicago Access Network TV was created in the late 80s and it has provided an easily affordable way (just token fees for training, etc.) for working class neighborhood groups, minorities, coalitions and unions to get in front of a camera and have complete control of their cable television message. Labor Beat has been one of those organizations, and we have had our show on since 1986.

These opportunities were created by the groundbreaking cable-tv ordinance's public access provisions set up to specifically provide a media voice to Chicago's citizens and community organizations disenfranchised up to that point by the fact that they could not afford to create and cablecast their own tv shows.

In Chicago's highly-restrictive corporate television environment, the successful union election last year won by a big majority of CAN TV employees -- naming NABET/CWA Local 41 as its bargaining agent -- was a continuation of that spirit of democratization of Chicago's public access tv born in the 1980s.

And CAN TV management's resistance to finalizing a fair contract with the new union is threatening to poison that democratic spirit. CAN TV's Executive Director makes $188,000 a year while half of the skilled employees make less than $15/hr. This salary differential would be considered obscene for any work environment. But CAN TV is a non-profit, set up to enable Chicago's disenfranchised to have a voice. So the situation is even more alarming and ironic. Management's imperial posturing before its low-wage staff is a threat to the spirit of media democracy which cannot go unchallenged.

Action must be taken on Wednesday. CAN TV's new union is on the front line today in the media battle between rich, corporate, CEO-salaries Chicago, and Chicago's working people.

Please take time to concretely show your support for CAN TV workers and NABET/CWA Local 41 by attending the rally on Wednesday, June 15 at 4:30 pm, 1300 S. Wood St., Chicago. After the rally, at 5:30 is the CAN TV Board of Directors meeting, which is open to the public. (Free parking in the rear of the facility. Metered parking on the streets.)

In solidarity,
Larry Duncan
Labor Beat co-producer
www.laborbeat.org

https://www.facebook.com/events/236314936754528/




ATTACHED IS THE PRESS RELEASE FROM NABET-CWA Local 41

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Advisory for 4:30PM: Public TV Worker Fired During Contract Campaign

Public Television Worker Fired During Union Contract Campaign
Workers rally before CAN TV Board meeting as union contract negotiations stall

For Immediate Release, June 15, 2016


Media Contacts​:
Jorge Mújica, Arise Chicago
[email protected] 773-844-9910
Jannelle White, ​CAN TV contract negotiations committee, NABET-CWA Local 41
[email protected]
Kevin Smith​, CAN TV Union Steward, NABET-CWA Local 41
[email protected]


WHAT: CAN TV workers and community supporters will rally before a 5:30 Board of Director’s meeting, protesting the recent firing of a co-worker, management’s anti-union activity, and ongoing income inequality


WHEN: Wednesday, June 15th at 4:30p​m


WHERE: 1309 S. Wood Street - Chicago, IL - 60616 - Front entrance. (Free parking in the rear of the facility. Metered parking on the streets.)


WHO: NABET-CWA Local 41 CAN TV workers demand fairness

Background:
CAN TV workers, responsible for bringing public access TV to millions of Chicago viewers, are living near poverty, while management make six figure salaries. On August 14, 2015, the workers of CAN TV voted overwhelmingly to unionize, (17-2), with NABET-CWA Local 41. Ten months later, the management of the non-profit has not signed a collective bargaining agreement.


Negotiations have had a troubling pattern of anti-union behavior against members of the bargaining unit, and NABET-CWA Local 41 has filed over a dozen Unfair Labor Practice claims against CAN TV with the NLRB. Workers have been subjected to extreme surveillance from management, being reprimanded for arriving early to work, and 2 workers have been given unpaid suspensions, when no worker had been suspended with or without pay in the last 15 years. A worker was fired last week in front of a client of CAN TV after requesting the presence of the union steward for a meeting.

Workers face ongoing economic hardship. Half of workers do not make $15 an hour, widely accepted as minimum to subsist in the city of Chicago, and some have had to use food stamps. But public 990 tax documents from 2014 show the top 6 managers earning over $642,000 annually. Executive Director Barbara Popovic makes $188,000 per year.


On Wednesday June 15 at 4:30 pm, workers will rally before a 5:30 Board of Director’s meeting, where they will urge the Board members to take negotiation matters into their own hands. The CAN TV Board of Director’s meeting is open to the public.

Workers will give public statements and be available for interview.

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CAN TV Contract Roadblock

On YouTube at:
https://youtu.be/IWDxp6ws5DI

IWDxp6ws5DI

Although NABET-CWA Local 41 won a union election last fall for workers at CAN TV (Chicago's public access tv center), management has been standing in the way of a contract. On June 15, 2016 the union and community allies, including Arise Chicago and Jobs with Justice, were forced to protest the contract roadblock. The action was minutes before the CAN TV board of directors' arrived for their meeting.

Employees have been living at near-poverty levels while upper management has been living on six-figure salaries. And a CAN TV worker, Renee Jackson, was fired the previous week while asking to have her union steward with her as a witness in a disciplinary hearing.

We show Executive Director ($188,000/year) Barbara Popovic stating back in July, 2015 that "CAN TV will fully support the employee's decision [if they vote in a union]...and we pledge to work cooperatively with NABET Local 41". A year later, it may be hard to take seriously that statement. Since these promises were made, management has orchestrated "extreme surveillance" of workers and has issued exceptional disciplinary measures for issues which, prior to the union vote, had not been used for the last 15 years.

Management is punishing and intimidating its workers for voting in a union. A management firm, hired since the unionization, boasts on its website that it offers "Union Avoidance" training on "practical steps to remain union free."

And, although some of its employees are making "fast-food" wages, CAN TV is blowing $500 an hour for an anti-union lawyer in contract negotiations!

Comments and interview from: Elma Lucas (producer of public access show Elma And Company); Don Villar (President of NABET-CWA Local 41); Jorge Mujica (Arise Chicago); Renee Jackson (fired CAN TV employee); Jeremy Frye (production coordinator at CAN TV); Jannelle White (CAN TV operations coordinator, NABET-CWA Local 14 contract negotiations committee).

The union and community supporters are calling on CAN TV to immediately settle a fair contract with its employees, so that the access center can turn its focus on serving the public access community; and re-hire Renee Jackson. Length - 13:41

https://s31.postimg.org/wp8fz2dzf/160615_Labor_Beat_CAN_TV_Contract_Roadblock.jpg

Photo: Labor Beat

Produced by Labor Beat. Labor Beat is a CAN TV Community Partner, and member of the Evanston Community Media Center. Labor Beat is a non-profit 501(c)(3) member of IBEW 1220. Views are those of the producer Labor Beat. For info: [email protected], www.laborbeat.org. 312-226-3330. For other Labor Beat videos, visit YouTube and search "Labor Beat". On Chicago CAN TV Channel 19, Thursdays 9:30 pm; Fridays 4:30 pm. Labor Beat has regular cable slots in Chicago, Evanston, Rockford, Urbana, IL; Philadelphia, PA; Princeton, NJ; and Rochester, NY.

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