Writers, stations at loggerheads as contract talks break down.

Contract talks between writers and producers at three CBS stations in Los Angeles have stalled amid charges that the network's management was demanding more work for the same pay and attempting to strip producers of union protections.

Negotiations between the Writers Guild of America-East, which represents news writers, producers and promotion writers at CBS owned-and-operated stations in Los Angeles, and Viacom Inc.-owned CBS grew increasingly rancorous over two weeks of negotiations, according to union officials, leading to the April 1 expiration of the prior three-year contract.

The writers and producers are working under an extension of a previous labor contract. Negotiations involving the L.A. stations, along with those in New York and Washington, D.C., are scheduled to resume later this month.

In Los Angeles, the union represents 425 CBS employees, including 132 news writers, writer producers and promotional writers at KCBS (Channel 2) and KCAL (Channel 9) and KNX-AM (1070).

Union leaders said they are still smarting over remarks by managers of KCAL and KCBS at a negotiating session last month in Los Angeles. According to the union's online newsletter, the sister station's general manager, Don Corsini, disparaged the work of KCAL and KCBS writers as "mediocre"--although no context was given.

Corsini did not return a call for comment. Mike Nelson, a spokesman for the two stations, said he would not confirm or deny remarks attributed to Corsini or other station officials.

"We do not comment on labor negotiations," Nelson said.

Writers Guild officials accuse CBS of demanding concessions from workers, including the elimination of paid lunch, a night differential and premium pay on holidays. CBS also is attempting to remove producers--including about 30 in Los Angeles--from union coverage, according to the Writers Guild.

"This is the broadest set of proposals that CBS ever has put on the table," said Ann Toback, associate general counsel of the Writers Guild of America-East. "They want us to make major concessions."

A CBS spokesman in New York declined to comment, saying the network does not conduct labor negotiations in the media.

Cost-culling pressure

Viacom, which bought CBS in 2000, has been struggling to increase profits in a soft advertising market. In March, the media conglomerate reported a fourth-quarter loss of $18.4 billion, compared with net income of $385.4 million for the like period a year earlier. The loss was the result of an $18 billion charge related to Viacom's radio and billboard business. The L.A. market, however, is believed to have been strong in recent years.

The 425 Viacom news writers, promotion writers and producers covered by the Writers Guild contract represent a tiny fraction of Viacom's more than 38,000 employees. But the company is under pressure from Wall Street to cut costs across the board, according to media industry analyst Dennis McAlpine.

"You've got a situation where (Viacom) is trying to get CBS to stand on its own as a corporate entity," McAlpine said. "I think you'll see even more aggressive attempts to cut costs. CBS has generally been making money, but that doesn't mean they are immune."

Mona Mangan, executive director of the Writers Guild of America-East, said union members object to multi-million-dollar contracts for anchors while CBS insists that it needs to pare staffing and extract more labor from news writers, whose salaries start at around $70,000 a year.

"It is enormously difficult for employees working exceptionally hard to be asked to make concessions when they see extraordinary amounts of money being spent on other things," Mangan said.

At KNX, which has significantly altered its all-news format in the past year to include more telephone call-in shows, Writers Guild officials said CBS management is trying to merge some of the duties of news writers with their counterparts at sister news station KFWB, owned by Viacom's Infinity Broadcasting division. News writers at KFWB are represented by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

Station managers have insisted that they will keep the editorial operations of the two news stations separate, even though both are moving into a Miracle Mile office building to be occupied by other Infinity Broadcasting stations in Los Angeles.

Pat Duffy, the general manager of KNX and KFWB, did not return a call for comment.

Mangan said union members do not understand why Viacom is asking for deep concessions at a time when its overall outlook is positive.

"This is not a Rust Belt industry," she said. "This is a thriving part of American capitalism. The share price keeps climbing."

In fact, Viacom's stock price has been languishing this year and has dropped from 2004 levels. Viacom stock was valued at $35.05 on April 12, down from $40.21 a year earlier.

Station officials and workers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said little has changed at the stations, despite the acrimony of the negotiations. And Writers Guild officials remain optimistic that they can come to an agreement when talks resume April 28.

"Nobody's emotions have run away from them," Mangan said.