SAG-AFTRA on a Roll at Cumulus Radio

Newly organized KNBR staff with SAG-AFTRA organizer Lauren Renaud, center
 
Recently, off-air production staff at KGO-AM and KSFO-AM in San Francisco voted unanimously to choose SAG-AFTRA as their union and join our local. The new bargaining unit will cover producers, board operators, Web producers and more, for news and talk stations KGO 810 and KSFO 650. They join the anchors, reporters and hosts who have long been part of our local.

Board Operator Karen Reid said, “We’re pleased to join our on-air colleagues and unite with them for a fair contract.”

Current SAG-AFTRA on-air members supported their off-air coworkers, who joined them at the bargaining table. After years of contract negotiations, both groups hope that Cumulus hears their message — that their efforts to put profits before local radio won’t stand. You can expect to hear more from this unified group and their contract campaign in the coming months.

This is our local’s second election at a Cumulus Media radio station in the past year. On Nov. 6 of last year, staff at KNBR 680/1050 in San Francisco voted to join our union. That new bargaining unit covers more than 35 media professionals who host, report, produce, edit and coordinate content for sports stations KNBR 680 and KTCT 1050. They won their election, interestingly enough, while the San Francisco Giants were winning the World Series, which made for a thrilling few weeks.

The members at these Cumulus stations — newly joined as well as longtime members — are working together in their fight for fair terms and conditions. We escalated our fight by launching a public petition at savelocalradio.org. We followed up by leafleting outside of a Giants game, alerting listeners and fans to Cumulus’ treatment of its employees and asking them to join in support on our petition. This campaign will continue to escalate as needed, so keep an eye out for more news on this front.

This item was originally featured in the August 2015 local newsletter.