SAG-AFTRA Podcast: “Organizing in America: Two Broadcast Stations Share Their Success Stories”

Workers continue to lead organizing efforts across multiple sectors of work, including the broadcasting industry. As a labor union in entertainment and media, SAG-AFTRA’s work in guiding broadcasters through the exciting, yet tumultuous, unionization process has empowered broadcasters to create newsrooms that foster equity, accountability and community. 

In this episode, podcast hosts SAG-AFTRA Executive Vice President Ben Whitehair and National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland speak to two broadcasters that have been involved with organizing their stations: Telemundo 52 anchor, television journalist and producer Dunia Elvir, and Jordan Pascale, a transportation reporter for WAMU 88.5 FM, an NPR station based in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. Telemundo 52 is one of the more recent broadcast stations to unionize with SAG-AFTRA, while WAMU 88.5 unanimously voted to unionize during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Elvir and Pascale talk about their firsthand experiences toward unionization. Hear more about the different ways both stations approached organizing, the nuances of the organizing and elections process, and their behind-the-scenes work in creating their first-ever collective bargaining agreements. 

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Photo: SAG-AFTRA broadcast members Dunia Elvir and Jordan Pascale.

The views expressed by the guests are their own and not that of SAG-AFTRA. Any mention of products or services does not imply SAG-AFTRA’s endorsement.