LOS ANGELES — Content creators at The Current (KCMP) and Classical MPR (KSJN), the two music services offered by Minnesota Public Radio, voted to recognize SAG-AFTRA as their union. Classical and The Current content creators won their respective elections in a landslide election. The election was conducted by mail ballot, and the National Labor Relations Board counted the votes Tuesday afternoon.
“On behalf of SAG-AFTRA’s members, I want to congratulate The Current and Classical MPR’s talented content creators and welcome them to our SAG-AFTRA family. This is an important victory for public media professionals, and we look forward to standing with them and supporting them as they negotiate fair contracts,” said SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris.
The two new bargaining units will include the public media professionals who create content for all areas of the stations, including on-air hosts, producers, and all the people that make content for The Current and Classical MPR, including Classical 24 and Performance Today. These victories allow the two new bargaining units to move forward to negotiate their first contracts.
“This is an amazing day for those of us who work at Classical MPR,” said Classical host Steve Staruch. “We have been heard, and with SAG-AFTRA's representation, we now have a seat at the table when decisions are made about our careers and our families. With our colleagues at The Current, we look forward to negotiating contracts that acknowledge and reward our work, our dedication and our passion for serving our listeners.”
“This is a historic moment for The Current,” adds The Current host Andrea Swensson. “For the first time in our station's history, employees have won the legal right to collectively bargain for ourselves in the workplace. Standing arm and arm in solidarity, we are eager to advance our shared goals of transparency, fairness, integrity and inclusivity."
The Current and Classical MPR represent the latest in a series of organizing victories for public media professionals with SAG-AFTRA. In recent years, employees at KCRW in Santa Monica, KPCC in Pasadena, KPBS in San Diego, WBEZ in Chicago, KUOW in Seattle, MPR News in Minnesota, WBUR in Boston, WHYY in Philadelphia, WBGO in Newark, digital and per diem employees at New York Public Radio, and content creators at WAMU in Washington, D.C., have all unionized with SAG-AFTRA. SAG-AFTRA also represents public media professionals at National Public Radio and several other public radio and television stations.
About SAG-AFTRA
SAG-AFTRA represents approximately 160,000 actors, announcers, broadcast journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers, news editors, program hosts, puppeteers, recording artists, singers, stunt performers, voiceover artists and other entertainment and media professionals. SAG-AFTRA members are the faces and voices that entertain and inform America and the world. A proud affiliate of the AFL-CIO, SAG-AFTRA has national offices in Los Angeles and New York and local offices nationwide representing members working together to secure the strongest protections for entertainment and media artists into the 21st century and beyond. Visit SAG-AFTRA online at SAGAFTRA.org.