NABET-CWA 31 Urges Newsmakers To Boycott NPR

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

Technical employees at National Public Radio, members of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians-CWA Local 31, are urging elected officials and other newsmakers not to give interviews to NPR if the field production is not being done by a NABET-CWA represented technician. The nearly 100 highly skilled and experienced technical workers have been trying for several months to reach a fair agreement with NPR management. NABET-CWA has filed an unfair labor practice charge against NPR management over its actions undermining the existing contract with technicians. Management assigned a producer – a non-technical employee -- to conduct an interview with U.S. Senator Evan Bayh on Jan. 17 without a NABET-CWA member to perform the technical and quality control work for the production. Bayh's office cancelled the interview when it learned of the labor dispute. The technicians, working in Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, overwhelmingly rejected management's demands in a December vote. For more information on the dispute, go to http://www.nabet31.com/ and click on the NPR link.