http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/article.cfm?issue=10-05-07&storyID=28164
Friday October 5, 2007
Commentary: Labor Struggles at KPFA By Tracy Rosenberg and Ruthanne Shpiner (10-05-07)
[snip]
The unpaid staff (volunteer workers ) at Berkeley's venerable KPFA radio received an unhappy surprise on Aug. 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. KPFA's volunteer staff is the crux of the station's programming. Without their work the station, as we know it, could not survive. Without their work KPFA would have to air canned, prerecorded programs.
The Aug. 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. Currently there is a petition circulating for unpaid staff to sign affirming signers wish to have the UPSO act as their representative body. The management memo of Aug 13 "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. 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.
[snip]
So if we care about alternatives to the mainstream, then we have to care about and value unpaid work. Because precious few of us are ever going to be paid a sustainable wage to do these things. So when an alternative institution like KPFA of 50 plus years duration turns on its heels and says "you're not real workers"—"you don't have the privilege of collective bargaining over your working conditions, your supplies and your equipment like the REAL workers", it's a tremendous slap in the face to people's blood, sweat and tears, not just at KPFA, but really all the cooperative networks that people build up in their spare time to do important work. If a progressive beacon like KPFA can't support basic worker organizing in their midst, then who will?
Tracy Rosenberg is interim director of Media Alliance. Ruthanne Shpiner is KPFA representative to the UPSO council.
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