We Are One - Solidarity with KPFA's Workers

There isn't a strike or Lockout at KPFA. There is no ''union busting ''!! For a Progressive Non profit in a desperate economic situation to layoff two Union workers at the bottom of the senority list isn't remotely anti-union .
For example EVERY union , including the CWA ,have laid off staff members from time to time.
Were those officials trying to break the OPEIU or whatever union was representing those staffers ?
Of course not .
It also should be noted that CWA members including Laura Prives, close ally of Brian Edwards-Tiergert continue to work on the new Morning show. But according to the strange logic of the '' Concerned Listeners/KPFA Worker'' crew they aren't ''scabs ''. Only the unpaid volunteers .
People should attend the several rallies in the Bay Area on April 4 that really are in Soldarity with the Workers in Wisconsin , Ohio and everywhere . Not this phony event that dares to compare events at a small non profit with real vicious union busting in the Midwest .

This union just came out in support of a huge proposed corporate merger between AT&T and T-Mobile that will cost tens of thousands of jobs and turn the cell-phone market into a vicious duopoly that will raise prices through the roof and hurt lower-income communities.

AT&T laid off TWENTY THOUSAND workers between 2007 and 2009 while posting profits of thirty six billion dollars and spending 15 million lobbying DC on anti-consumer and anti-media diversity legislation.

This event should be boycotted by anyone who gives a damn about social justice and media freedom. The CWA is advancing the agenda of the corporations, not the people.

The Communication Workers of America is in a death battle with the left-wing Pacifica Foundation and crying unionbusting over the loss of 2 part-time jobs after losses of over a million dollars in two years.

The Communication Workers of America accepts job losses of 20,000 from mega-corporation AT&T after posting billions in profits and has now come out in support of a huge corporate job-killing merger between AT&T and T-Mobile.

That is royally fucked up.

Workers at KPFA are mobilizing on a national day to defend unions and bargaining rights. They are standing up for themselves, and in solidarity with all workers nationwide who are under attack.

Why do KPFA staff get a "special" attack from some bay area wackos because they are employed by a "left" organization that is screwing them? Because of this, they are supposed to sit quietly and suck up to Pacifica management, which is violating the contract constantly and spending 10s of thousands of union busting lawyers?

These same incompetents want to distract from their own mismanagement of KPFA's programming and finances by attacking CWA, which is battling for its members rights in many industries. Pathetic.

Bay area progressives are too smart for this game. They read and think. See http://www.kpfaworker.org and http://SaveKPFA.org

Yep, its gross financial mismanagement to turn two consecutive years of 500,000+ plus losses around.

And labor unions should be pushing forward the mega-merger agenda of their corporate bosses despite massive anticipated job losses.

While harping on the loss of 2 part-time jobs at a leftwing media foundation.

Save KPFA and the CWA deserve each other. Neither has a shred of credibility left.

The 2 puppets of the government agent LSB majority, Tiekert & Allison, filed all kinds of lawsuits and NLRB charges, forcing Pacifica to hire lawyers to defend itself. The others on the Morning Show team understood the financial crisis and did not sue Pacifica. Since no labor lawyer can oppose labor unions, including the company union known as CWA (worse than the previous UE that was in place before government agent manager Pat Scott busted it with her union busting American Consulting Group), Pacifica had to hire management attorneys. So far, Republican Party plant Brian Edwards Tiekert, whose hiring of Republican Party law firm Dhillon & Smith was supported by Democrat and former Communist Party member, now LSB chair, Margy Wilkinson, has taken the option he always had when faced with losing his arbitration, of bumping his friend, John Hamilton. Meanwhile, John Hamilton hustled up some 22 hours from his fellow government agents working at KPFA so he could collect the extraordinary healthcare benefits Pacifica provides, unheard of anywhere, COURTESY THE LISTENER-SUBSCRIBERS, and that is why Pacifica is loosing money. WE ARE PAYING MULTIPLE BENEFIT PACKAGES FOR THE SAME 40 HOURS. Pacifica employees do not pay anything for their excellent healthcare coverage. Kaiser costs around $600 a month for those who pay $25 to see the doctor and $10 for each lab test and X-ray, the plan being known as Kaiser Classic. This is for those in the 60-64 age group with no dependents. Younger people pay less, but if they have dependents under 19, it costs more. So, the benefit packages could cost $700 to $1400 or more per employee, if they just work 20 hours a week, not enough money to live on. These young people like John Hamilton and Brian Edwards Tiekert must have something else to supplement their measly $25,000 a year paycheck from Pacifica. Tiekert has the Republican Party; perhaps Hamilton does too.

As for April 4, Andrew Phillips, the Interim General Manager, announced 2 Fridays ago on Flashpoints that he would do a Report to the Listeners on April 4 at 8 a.m. on the Morning Mix. We will be listening. Hopefully he will breakdown the expenses, separating wages from benefits so the listeners understand the racket of multiple benefit packages for the same 40 hours of work, which is how company unions bankrupt community radio non-profit charities. He indicated at that interview that sometime in April there would a a short fundraiser to pay for Democracy Now and some other program as KPFA is delinquent on its reimbursements to Pacifica for some programs.

Meanwhile, we, the listener subscribers, expect to hear on the 6 p.m. April 4 evening news about the April 4 events in very easy reach of KPFA reporters:
1. UC Berkeley at noon at Sproul Plaza, Bancroft and Telegraph. This should also be done live at Noon on KPFA as that is what we pay for; not multiple benefit packages for the same 40 hours of work.
2. Martinez-Vallejo rally in the middle of the Zampa Bridge, after a march from both sides of the bridge, organized by the Contra Costa County Labor Council and the Napa/Solano Labor Council. The shuttle buses start at 10 a.m.; the march starts at 11:45 a.m. For more details, see http://www.cocolabor.org
This is one of the most extraordinary demonstrations because that is an area that usually does not participate. It means the American workingclass is finally so angry that it will commit considerable resources to a mass mobilization to defend itself. THIS SHOULD BE DONE LIVE AS WELL AS THIS IS WHAT WE PAY FOR; NOT MULTIPLE BENEFIT PACKAGES FOR THE SAME 40 HOURS OF WORK.
3. San Francisco General Hospital from 11:30 to 1 p.m. at 1001 Potrero.
4. Marin County's rally at Larkspur Ferry, then taking the Ferry to the San Francisco rally at Justin Herman Plaza as late as 505 p.m. departure.
5. San Francisco's Rally at Justin Herman Plaza from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Someone could call in and give it some on the spot vitality for a change on the 6 p.m. news on April 4, 2011.

Call for On-Air Fairness at KPFA
By Rob Browning
Tuesday April 05, 2011
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The current tempest at KPFA is deeply troubling to those of us who value independent radio journalism. And it is confusing because so much of what we read and hear seems so vitriolic and biased. The following petition is a call for fairness on KPFA's air. Please read this petition, and if it seems fair to you please sign it:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/kpfafairness/

Signing online is best. And sending this to other fair-minded people is great.

Here's a little background. Because Pacifica, KPFA’s umbrella network, is holding on against bankruptcy by a thread, its directors have initiated essential budget-balancing policies that promise to restore both the network and KPFA to solvency.

Thanks to Pacifica, KPFA has recently acquired a new, experienced interim general manager, Andrew Phillips, who is committed to fairness in on-air reporting, in particular about KPFA's internal issues (the subject of the attached petition). And thanks in part to the long-overdue cost-cutting initiated by Pacifica, and to rebounding listener support, KPFA's financial health is showing signs of improvement.

Pacifica still has a democratically elected board, not a self-selected one as in '99, though some are promoting a return to that.

For a fuller account of the issues referred to here, take a look at the following:

· http://www.supportkpfa.org, run by volunteers, updated periodically

· http://www.acrossthegreatdivide.org, an in-depth survey of the current crisis by Robbie Osman, a long-time and highly valued KPFA broadcaster

· http://www.danielborgstrom.blogspot.com/, an assemblage of opinion pieces

The petition above is far from "fair minded." It is simply an attempt to silence coverage of Pacifica issues on KPFA.

The KPFA News *already* has a fairness policy vetted by professional journalism organizations. Other KPFA programmers should be free to cover the issues as they see fit without management interference. The gag rule went out with Mary Francis Berry back in 1999.

See the link here: http://www.savekpfa.org/remembering-pacificas-history-of-censorship/

Incidentally, Rob Browning, author of the Daily Planet piece above, is the brother-in-law of Virginia Browning, who started the petition. So much for "fairness" and transparency in journalism.