LOS ANGELES – SAG-AFTRA members coast to coast are calling on Entercom Communications Corporation to engage in fair contract negotiations.
SAG-AFTRA members working at Entercom news and music stations in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and San Francisco have been in active negotiations for new union contracts since late last year. Negotiations are ongoing, but SAG-AFTRA members are going public for the first time with their disappointment with the company’s proposals.
“The company’s suggested proposals would erode significant benefits in our members’ contracts and lack recognition of the major contributions our members make to Entercom stations across the country,” said SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris. “We encourage a real partnership with Entercom as we look to achieve a meaningful and fair resolution of these negotiations.”
SAG-AFTRA members are seeking fair increases to compensation, benefits and limited benefits for part-time employees as well as a willingness to participate in the shift to the digitally focused radio business. Entercom is seeking to dramatically slash severance benefits and eliminate jobs with the expanded use of pre-recorded and non-local shows.
In response to Entercom’s proposals, members have issued the below statement:
“We are members of the SAG-AFTRA Entercom family. Broadcasting is an industry of continual change and evolution, yet we have been the constant. We are devoted to our craft and embrace the opportunity to deliver the highest quality and most highly trusted content for our radio audiences. We have taken our listeners through historic milestones in both news and music: the Sept. 11 attacks on the nation, the killing of John Lennon, Hurricane Sandy, the Live Aid concert, the Las Vegas concert shooting, the California wildfires, and over the decades, innumerable earthquakes, floods, heatwaves, elections and snowstorms. Through them all, we have been a distinct and identifiable continuum of well-known voices and personalities on which our families of listeners have come to depend.
“As SAG-AFTRA union members, we have advocated for our contracts to grow and evolve with our changing landscape to meet the needs of our work. We want our stations to grow and expand with new technologies and formats, and grow with them. Whether working in news or music, each of us and all of us are proud and strongly motivated to maintain and build upon the four pillars of our SAG-AFTRA agreements that:
- Establish and maintain industry standards for compensation, health and retirement, and severance benefits.
- Keep on-air voices live and local, and not voice-tracked and pre-recorded.
- Recognize the contribution of our part-timers as core members of our teams, through benefits and fair compensation.
- Keep and attract the best talent at our stations.
“Many of us have been working in broadcasting for decades, through infinite changes in technology and formats. We are committed to contracts that protect our rights and safeguard the future of our stations.”
The SAG-AFTRA Broadcast Steering Committee, a national member committee of SAG-AFTRA will be meeting in Los Angeles on March 9th and the Entercom negotiations will be a priority topic of discussion. In 2017, Entercom merged with CBS Radio, resulting in the broadcaster expanding its network to nearly 250 stations. Because of this merger nearly all of the SAG-AFTRA-represented radio stations are now bargaining for the first time with their new employer.
From left, SAG-AFTRA Executive Vice President Rebecca Damon, BSC Vice Chair and New York Local Board member Cheri Preston, BSC Chair Joe Krebs, Vice President of Broadcasting Catherine Brown and Chief Broadcast Officer Mary Cavallaro at the Broadcast Steering Committee meeting in Los Angeles on March 9. During the meeting, committee members signed a petition of support and solidarity with members and colleagues in contract negotiations with Entercom Communications Corporation. Many Broadcast Steering Committee members work for Entercom-owned stations across the country.
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.