COALITION CALLS FOR TV STATION BOYCOTT; PRO-UNION RALLY HELD AT KVEA; PRO-UNION GROUP PROTESTS KVEA.Byline: Enrique Rivero Daily News Staff Writer A coalition of community organizations and labor unions labor union: see union, labor. has launched a protest against Spanish-language television station KVEA-TV (Channel 52), saying the station has resorted to firings and intimidation to prevent unionization. The Coalicion Pro-Justicia en KVEA-52 says that station management refuses to recognize the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians union, or NABET/CWA, which last year apparently was voted in during two elections by technicians and production workers. The group also accuses the station, part of the Miami-based Telemundo Station Group, of terminating about a half-dozen on-air reporters since May 1996 for supporting union representation at the station a month after they lost an election for representation by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) is a performers' union that represents a wide variety of talent, including actors in radio and television, as well as radio and television announcers and newspersons, singers and recording artists (both royalty union, or AFTRA AFTRA American Federation of Television & Radio Artists . Station officials denied the allegations, saying the NABET/CWA vote has not been certified and that no one has been fired because of their support for unionization. But the coalition remains unconvinced, staging a protest rally Monday at the station and organizing a boycott of the station, which it says is the only major nonunion nonunion /non·union/ (non-un´yun) failure of the ends of a fractured bone to unite. non·un·ion n. The failure of a fractured bone to heal normally. television station in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , to coincide with the November sweeps. ``What this coalition is saying is they are not going to have this kind of anti-union and anti-labor position within the Latino community here,'' said Paul Worthman, AFTRA's national director of organizing and research. He said the Aug. 1 termination of on-air journalist Ana Cecilia Granados was a direct result of her involvement in the union organization effort. ``Ana Cecelia Granados has been a fairly open and active supporter of not only her colleague reporters but the technical and production workers who first won election in April 1996,'' he said. ``That's when it all started.'' But station manager Eduardo Dominguez denied the accusations, saying that Granados was a free-lance general assignment reporter who did not have a contract. He also denied that the station has intimidated in·tim·i·date tr.v. in·tim·i·dat·ed, in·tim·i·dat·ing, in·tim·i·dates 1. To make timid; fill with fear. 2. To coerce or inhibit by or as if by threats. employees or fired anyone for their pro-union activities. He said the NABET NABET National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians votes are under review by the National Labor Relations Board National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), independent agency of the U.S. government created under the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (Wagner Act), and amended by the acts of 1947 (Taft-Hartley Labor Act) and 1959 (Landrum-Griffin Act), which affirmed labor's right for certification and that Monday's protest was an attempt by the unions to ``move forward their position.'' ``It's completely untrue that, one, anybody has been fired because of union sympathies,'' he said. ``And two, we are following the legal path with the NLRB and will abide by the final decision.'' Granados, a reporter for the station since February, said she had supported unionization even before she began working for the station, something she said the station had been well aware of. Dominguez said the station discontinued using Granados as a result of a newsroom restructuring. But she said her union sympathies are at the root of her release. ``This is retaliation RETALIATION. The act by which a nation or individual treats another in the same manner that the latter has treated them. For example, if a nation should lay a very heavy tariff on American goods, the United States would be justified in return in laying heavy duties on the manufactures and , let's be honest,'' Granados said. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: (1--Color) Former KVEA reporter Ana Cecilia Granados says she was fired for pro-union views. (2) Coalicion Pro-Justicia en KVEA-52 supporters protest Monday in front of television station KVEA. Myung J. Chun/Daily News |
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