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Rally For a Fair Contract! today, 4-6pm

from EEF/CWA Local 1300

Rally For a Fair Contract!
TODAY, March 15, 4-6 pm
Corner of Market and Guest St.

A community rally in support of our fight for a fair contract!

Speakers include AEEF members, labor leaders and local & state politicians!

This legal rally on the public sidewalks around WGBH will include carrying signs, handing out flyers, wearing stickers, walking and chanting from 4-6pm
Fun is the order of the afternoon for this legally-protected form of labor activity
Feel free to bring your own signs and slogans. Some sign-making supplies will be available on-site at 4pm
Participate in any way you are most comfortable...even in a silent show of support
The goal is to get management back to the bargaining table through a public display of support to build community and press awareness
Press coverage is likely from local media outlets
Wear your AEEF buttons. Additional stickers and buttons will be in limited supply. Best to check with your steward beforehand.
Speakers begin just after 5PM

Rally co-sponsored by AEEF/CWA Local 1300, Greater Boston Labor Council, and Massachusetts Jobs with Justice
 
I have no idea what money tree these people think their employers are picking the money from. It comes from donors at WGBH, as well as grants and other gifts. If the entire economy is down, then WGBH's income will be down. SO therefore, less money to go around for everyone. Look what the UAW did to Detroit with the endless greed. OUR tax dollars had to bail out an entire industry that couldn't support the weight of the union's demands.

I'm sure there are many out of work in the industry that would take your job in a split second... and you're all busy bitching about continuing to be employed with a wage increase.
 
WNTIRadio said:
I have no idea what money tree these people think their employers are picking the money from. It comes from donors at WGBH, as well as grants and other gifts. If the entire economy is down, then WGBH's income will be down. SO therefore, less money to go around for everyone. Look what the UAW did to Detroit with the endless greed. OUR tax dollars had to bail out an entire industry that couldn't support the weight of the union's demands.

I'm sure there are many out of work in the industry that would take your job in a split second... and you're all busy bitching about continuing to be employed with a wage increase.

And you have to remember that the original poster only posted it because he's P.O.'d that GBH took off two music shows with falling audiences of aging listeners who were too cheap to support those programs. If those shows were still on the air, he wouldn't give a flying fig about the labor dispute.
 
Personally, I support the union's effort. Why this vehemence in the face of people trying to maintain a middle-class life? Given that CEO's make an average of 400x the wage of their worker? Blaming the rank and file for the demise of the auto industry? Doesn't make sense to me. Yea, gotta keep the stock price up blah, blah. What do the execs who own _your_ company make? And, I'm _sure_ there's no middle management fat at CBS...

Yes, radio is a competitive business, but wouldn't wages and working conditions improve at all stations if people had a sense of being in it together?
 
How much do big labor fat cats make? And who is paying for those gubmint contracts?
 
How about instead of railing against the executives, work harder and move up in the company! Damn, what a concept. Everyone wants to knock all the executives down, has anyone stopped to think that most (not all, but most) have paid their dues and have moved up to that position? My uncle started as a bank teller at a large NJ bank and retired as a VP. What's wrong with that???

The issue with radio is that it needs to start growing the talent again instead of handing radio shows to people with zero experience just because they're a "celebrity" of some sort. If you're an air talent, working at some small station, that big job you aspired to get is already taken by some hack with a "name". All of the big guns in radio today, Howard, Rush, Imus, yes, even Beck, Seacrest etc. all paid their dues at some dump station at one time and then worked their way up to where they are now.

This whole idea of "nobody should make big bucks" and/or "I want everything handed to me on a silver platter" is precisely what's wrong with America. That's why all of our jobs keep moving overseas. I wouldn't be surprised to turn on a morning show soon and find out it's been outsourced to India over ISDN...

As far as the auto industry, yes, the union did help kill it. When a guy gets "laid off" and still makes 90% of his salary to sit at home, how can any company survive. What gets lost is that if everyone demands everything, eventually there is nothing left for anyone.

And my company's CEO? I know exactly how much he makes... it's my company and I'm the only employee.
 
I'm confused here...

So the union wants more money from WGBH.

Isn't WGBH a public radio station...affiliated with NPR?

And didn't the House just vote to cut federal funds from NPR stations?

That's the issue here. The House Republicans really think there are no consequences from cutting funding from NPR. But there is.

If the union wants more money from NPR stations, it needs to use its muscle to return federal funding to public radio. I want to see CWA members marching in DC. NPR headquarters is a union shop. Solidarity forever.
 
NPR doesn't give any money to the stations. In fact, a LOT of money flows in the opposite direction, from the local affiliate to the network. I used to work for one, and believe me, the big shows like All Things, Morning Edition and Car Talk cost a small fortune to air. And it's all scaled by station and market size, so WGBH is paying way more than a public station in Maine.

What I don't get is why WGBH and WBUR air so many of the same programs? Seems so stupid to me. If I were WGBH, I would put that money into developing region-centric programming and let WBUR have the network stuff. Trust me, with what they pay for the NPR fare, that's quite a number of potential salaries.

The only way the local stations would be affected by the "de-funding" would be losing their CPB money. NPR is also funded (6% of their yearly budget) by Corporation for Public Broadcasting money, aka, government grants.
 
WNTIRadio said:
The only way the local stations would be affected by the "de-funding" would be losing their CPB money.

Which is what the House has voted to do. Last month, they defunded CPB. So how can a CPB station give raises to union employees when they're about to lose their funding?

That's the problem here. The House of Representatives doesn't see any backlash from cutting CPB funding.
 
That's the problem here. The House of Representatives doesn't see any backlash from cutting CPB funding.

A top exec is on record as saying they'd be better off without the taxpayer funds, so the only backlash would appear to be improvement.

But breathe easy. The chances of the senate cutting funds to such as reliable DNC echo chamber are just about nil.

Regards,
TSB
 
I am constantly shocked by the extent to which working people are willing to dump on other working people. There is absolutely no leverage in most employment situations without collective bargaining.

Unions did not wreck the auto industry. No union contract includes a provision saying "we will make ill-designed cars that fail to meet the market requirements of out prospective buyers." Management was fully capable of accomplishing that with no assistance from the rank and file.

The issue here is WGBH failing to negotiate, declaring an impasse and forcing a contract down the union's throat
 
thought he was PO'd at WUMB for taking 2 shows off.

Either you are wrong or I am wrong.... care to make a wager?



It's neither or both. He's pissed at `UMB for what you said AND at `GBH for what the other poster said.

The guy whines about broadcasting and posts this drivel and he's not even a broadcaster.

It'd be nice if he learned about the industry before posting.
 
TSBench said:
A top exec is on record as saying they'd be better off without the taxpayer funds

That's what he said in a heavily edited video where he was made to say things he didn't actually say.

The key point here though is the top exec worked for NPR, not WGBH. No one from WGBH has said they'd be better off with federal funding. Quite the contrary. WGBH sent out emails to its members asking them to call or write their Congressmen to vote against the bill.

What I'm saying is it's difficult to negotiate with a union that wants a contract when you don't really know if you're going to get the funding to pay them.
 
Why should the government fund CPB? Let it raise its own money. Let the stations raise their own money. You can't tell me that WGBH, with all of its programming on both radio and TV can't sell enough underwriting and solicit enough donations to survive.

I worked for a station that received CPB money. There is also an AM stand alone (with FM translator) in town as well. The AM does 50 times for the community what the CPB funded station does. The public station plays music. The AM does local news, fundraisers for local charities (including two day radiothons), offers air time for the various local politicians and community groups, and a ton of other community outreach. They don't get any government money, they get support from the local businesses in the form of advertising. IF the people want the public stations, they will vote with their wallets and businesses will underwrite it. Let local foundations set up endowments for the local public broadcasters instead of a taxpayer funded national scene if it is truly that important to them.
 
WNTIRadio said:
Why should the government fund CPB? Let it raise its own money.

CPB was created and funded by the Congress. There are no other options. Defunding CPB means it's dead. In other words, CPB isn't allowed to raise its own money. The role CPB is supposed to play is to act as a buffer and prevent government intrusion into radio. Otherwise, the government could come in and tell radio stations what to do. Kind of like what they did on Thursday.

But hey, there are lots of other things government does I don't like. Let the military raise its own money next time it wants to invade some foreign country. Let the Boston public school system raise their own money rather than tax people. Why should I have to pay so your kids go to school?

WNTIRadio said:
IF the people want the public stations, they will vote with their wallets and businesses will underwrite it.

They do. The users pay for the majority of the cost. The government money only covers a small percentage of the cost of running a radio and TV operation. But the commercial stations are cutting back on local services, doing less news and public affairs, doing no arts coverage at all, and so it falls to public radio to keep the Boston Symphony on the air. The other thing to know is that federal regulations control how public radio stations can thank their funders. If they go too far, they can get fined. So it's not as simple as you say.
 
I wrote many an underwriting spot, I know exactly how it works and just where the "lines" are. It CAN be done. Turn some sales people loose and watch what happens. I have a client that gets no CPB money, a public station, and their staff does over $500k in underwriting. Look at WNYC in NY, MASSIVE amounts of money from underwriting. Lots of businesses like the image boost they get from supporting the public station and the audience is loyal to the supporters.

The government doesn't need to fund un-necessary things right now. I work in the business, but radio isn't necessary. It's a luxury. The difference between schools, as you point out, and the military is that those are necessary to the survival of the country. Having educated kids is beneficial to everyone, everywhere. Public radio isn't necessary to the survival of the country, it's just nice to have.

And if they're so concerned on the left, why doesn't Soros set up an endowment fund? God knows he's got the cash.
 
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