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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 28, 2007

Contact: Tracy Rosenberg (510-684-6853) Interim Director, Media Alliance

KPFA MANAGEMENT "DERECOGNIZES" UNPAID-WORKERS ORGANISATION

BERKELEY-CALIFORNIA -- Volunteer workers at Berkeley's venerable KPFA radio received an unhappy surprise on August 13, when a memo went out declaring that the unpaid workers' organization was no longer recognized by station management.

The Unpaid Staff Organization ("UPSO") has existed for seventeen years to represent the interests of the more than 200 volunteers who produce the majority of the program hours at KPFA. Unpaid staff produce nearly all of KPFA's music shows, and a substantial portion of its news and public affairs programs as well.

The August 13 memo, signed by interim General Manager Lemlem Rijio, declares, "Currently, there is no management-recognized 'unpaid staff organization.'" Rijio's memo says that station management acted because the UPSO had not functioned for nearly two years. Not mentioned was the fact that an election committee was in the process of conducting a vote to refill the posts of incumbents who had ceased to serve the UPSO. Rijio's memo was issued only four days before the ballot due date of the UPSO election. The management memo "pulls the rug out from under people who get very little for their dedication and hard work," said Shahram Aghamir, a producer on KPFA's "Voices of the Middle East" program. And KPFA's Local Station Board passed a resolution calling on management to rescind the memo and continue the long-standing policy of recognizing UPSO as the representative of the station's unpaid workers; the Board vote was 13 yes, zero no, and five abstaining.

The immediate effect of the Rijio memo is to complicate the upcoming election for Local Station Board members, possibly preventing some unpaid staff from voting in that election. The management action may also hamper the possibility of UPSO working to gain new benefits for unpaid staff, such as a formal grievance procedure comparable to that of the station's unionized paid staff, or the option to buy health insurance at the station's group rate. More difficult to assess will be the impact of the disrespect management showed the station's unpaid workers by withdrawing recognition of their organization.

Coincidentally, the Rijio memo went out the same day as management at another media institution attacked a union: the Media News Group newspaper chain declared its "derecognition" of the Northern California Media Guild as the representative of employees at Media News Group's ANG newspapers. But many KPFA listeners will surely be surprised and dismayed that KPFA management engages in the same behavior as the managers of a profit-driven media conglomerate.

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