Labor Council Renews Boycott of McGraw-Hill-owned KGTV Channel 10

TV station refuses to negotiate a fair contract with employees for fourth year;
Labor Council urges public to “Turn Off 10”

SAN DIEGO – (February 10, 2010) – The San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council has voted to renew the advertising and consumer boycott of KGTV Channel 10 for another year in light of the four years that have passed since the television station refused to negotiate a fair contract.

McGraw-Hill, the parent company of KGTV Channel 10, has been actively engaged in a union-busting campaign, waging a war of fear and intimidation among KGTV employees represented by the National Association of Broadcast Employees & Technicians-Communications Workers of America (NABET-CWA) Local 54.

Internal McGraw-Hill documents uncovered by NABET-CWA show that KGTV has no intention of negotiating a fair contract, by constantly declaring impasse in negotiations. Channel 10 also profiled employees based on race, gender and age and included a fear to be used to intimidate each employee.

“The first year of this boycott was extremely successful and now we want to take it to the next level,” said Lorena Gonzalez, the Secretary-Treasurer and CEO of the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, AFL-CIO. “Channel 10 depends heavily on advertising revenue, particularly political advertising. While we expect candidates and groups that support working families to use all the tools available to them, there is no reason Channel 10 should profit from this income when they refuse to negotiate a fair contract with their employees.”

KGTV Channel 10 has been forced to settle charges with the National Labor Relations Board that it threatened and intimidated employees and interfered with their lawful activities, but that has not stopped their union-busting campaign. “Channel 10’s tactics have been particularly unethical and we intend to support these workers until they have a fair contract,” said Gonzalez.

The San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, AFL-CIO, includes 127 affiliated unions representing more than 189,000 workers who are making the region a better place to work and live.

NABET-CWA has represented employees at KGTV since 1953. For more information, visit 10NewsUnfair.com, nabetcwa54.org or unionyes.org.

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