Transcript:

Freedom is a Constant Struggle
September 23, 1997
Free Radio Berkeley

KN: Right now, in the studio with me is Samuel Guia, who is a current staff member of KPFA/Pacifica Radio and we're going to be discussing some of the latest changes. Before we go to that, I want to read a memo that was written by both Samuel Guia and Patricia Terrazas:

 We, Patricia Terrazas and Samuel Guia, current staff members at KPFA /Pacifica Radio, would like to inform you of a critical issue affecting us, Latino programmers and employees, and to ask for your help and support. On Monday, September 15, Patricia Terrazas was laid off from her position as Women's Department Director at KPFA. Like Patricia, three other staff members were given two weeks notice to leave the station.

 This development came as a result, according to Pat Scott, Executive Director of Pacifica, and Lynne Chadwick, Interim General Manager of KPFA, of a shortfall of money in the budget. They claimed that the income received for fiscal year '97 fell short of expected revenues. At a time when KPFA staff has achieved greater fundraising goals, the layoff of these employees undermines labor practices and is detrimental to the community access and representation for the following reasons:

First, Pacifica is restructuring KPFA's Women's, Third World and Public Affairs Departments and Folio publication. This restructuring involves the layoff of their respective staff, and in the case of Public Affairs, the possible hiring of a manager to take over a previous union position.

Second, the burden of the changes has placed people of color on the losing side. In the past two years, we have lost more than fourteen programmers representing people of color. In fact, with the promotion of Jesus "Chuy" Varela to the Music Department, we have lost any staff spokesperson for local Latino news and Public Affairs. The only Latino program left is "Our Americas" which comes from our New York sister station WBAI on Tuesday nights for one hour. With the firing of Patricia Terrazas and Barrie Scott, Third World Department Director, people of color have been silenced. Instead you only hear Anglo-Saxon [sic] voices Monday through Friday with Pacifica National shows Amy Goodman, Larry Bensky and Jerry Brown.

Third, the firing of Patricia and Barrie took us by surprise. We still wonder why specific departments at KPFA are not all inclusive, specifically the Drama and Literature Department and the News Department which has no Latinos, Asians or Native Americans among their personnel. We would like to know how it is possible that while Pat Scott, Pacifica's executive director {aside from Kiilu – "who is an African American, incidentally"} got 35% salary increases in the past two years, the union members got only three percent in their new contract.

We would like to know why KPFA spends $30 Thousand per year to produce Jerry Brown's We the People and Pacifica spends $200 Thousand to produce Living Room with Larry Bensky. [ transcriber’s note: I believe this is the budget figure for Democracy Now, not Living Room. These budget figures should be clearly disclosed to the subscribers.] Why these two shows get prime time while there is almost no programs produced, hosted or directed by people of color for people of color? And finally, we want to know why the current budget supports these kind of National NPR-like programs while eliminating most needed staff through most despicable labor practices?

These four community workers' termination date is October 1, 1997. Unless people in the community who are current subscribers at KPFA, or have subscribed in the past, or have been involved with KPFA and care about its future do something to stop this unfair decision by Pacifica/KPFA management, we are going to lose very capable workers.

We need you to call Pacifica's Executive Director Pat Scott at (510) 848-6767 ext. 202 or Lynne Chadwick at (510) 848-6767 ext. 203 and denounce this unjust action.

As Pacifica/KPFA moves to the mainstream, people of color are left behind with an empty bag which was full of promises not long ago. Is this the American Dream that progressives had in their mind for us, the immigrants and the Latinos? We don't have the answer to this troubling question, but we have faith in people like you to make the call and find out what is happening at Pacifica/KPFA in its treatment of Latinos at the station.

Please demand respect for Latino programming and for your representation.

Sinceramente en espiritu communitario,

 Samuel Guia    Patricia Terrazas

KN: Welcome, Samuel to Free radio Berkeley.

SG: Thank you very much Kiilu. We have been working previously and I have fond memories of working with you at KPFA in the days that KPFA made some sense out of radio in Berkeley. I feel welcome here, even though I am still working at KPFA.

I want to make a disclaimer to your audience. Number one, I am coming here as a U.S. citizen and as an immigrant. Number two, I am not representing the Union at this point and I don’t claim to represent either the Union or KPFA/Pacifica.

The reason of that statement that you just read is very clear. We are losing the battle at KPFA and at this point we have only one choice and that is to go to the community, to call the community and to ask them for their help…because, I have to admit, we fail in many, many ways during the last negotiations and that’s really what I want to talk about today. There is some kind of a misinformation going around regarding unpaid staff, volunteers at KPFA and I want to set the record straight.

There is some misinformation regarding what paid staff did to unpaid staff and I think the record has to be clear … and actually there is some misinformation, and actually disinformation, or complete silence about the last labor negotiations at KPFA between paid staff and management. And, I also want to clarify the record, because even though I was not sitting on the table, there were some significant developments that your audience needs to know.

KN: And what are those developments, Samuel?

SG: OK, with respect to unpaid staff or volunteers. I talk to Lyn, the woman who is handling a Web …

KN: Lyn Gerry

SG: Lyn Gerry...who is handling a Web Page in L.A. regarding Pacifica, and she said that on the Web it says that paid staff sold out unpaid staff. And for the record, I have to tell you something …paid staff did not sold out unpaid staff.

When paid staff decided to go and change unions from United Electric Workers to CWA, Communication Workers of America, we had to get management to sign on a recognition to CWA, and there is a statement in here that clearly delineates what CWA were going to do regarding unpaid staff and this is a document, this is public document. This [holding document] is the Agreement of Recognition between CWA and KPFA.

On the paragraph number 4, it reads:

" CWA contends that certain unpaid staff members (volunteers), who meet the definition of unpaid staff as set forth in section 5 of the UE agreement referenced in this Agreement of Recognition are employees under the NLRA (and cites the NLRB decision in WBAI /Pacifica Foundation in support of this position.) Pacifica contends that volunteers are not within the definition of an employee. The parties preserve their respective positions with respect to this issue and agree to discuss their position during the course of negotiation. Nothing herein constitutes a waiver of any of the positions set forth above."

What this basically says id that CWA and Pacifica agree to disagree. Because, Marci Lockwood from the very beginning of recognition did not ..the ex- former General Manager of KPFA…from the very beginning of the talks she did not want to recognize unpaid staff or volunteers as part of the negotiation unit. She claimed, and it was pretty much Pacifica’s position, that volunteers are not workers. And CWA opposed that,

KN: they just work on the radio station…

SG: They are just free labor, they are like slaves really…

KN: I mean, what’s the ratio to staff? To paid staff to unpaid staff at KPFA? It’s about ten to one, isn’t it?

SG: It used to be ten to one. You see, they went through a major shakedown. After you left there, the number of unpaid staff came down to six to one, five to one probably…because they pretty much closed down shop for almost half of the unpaid staff.

KN: Right. There used to be about 300 unpaid staff. So now you’re saying there will probably be only 150…

SG: About 150..During Marathon it probably doubles because we have telephone volunteers.

KN: Right, but I mean unpaid programmers

SG: Unpaid programmers, it came down to about half of what it used to be. That actually obeyed a policy that Pacifica imposed on us after the changes. And if you recall very well most of the programmers were pretty much let go …

KN: The programs, quite a number of programs were abruptly cancelled in ’95, in August of ’95.

SG: That’s correct.

KN: And one of them was Freedom is a Constant Struggle which is as you know, and our listeners know, has moved to Free Radio Berkeley and San Francisco Liberation Radio. But most of the programmers that were let go were people of color.

SG: That’s correct. One of the evidences, and right now I’m collecting evidence…everything that I have to say I have a document in here to support it, because as you know Pacifica’s…once they find out that I am speaking up and I am exercising my First Amendment’s rights they are not going to just sit back and enjoy it.

I’ve been subjected to monitoring of my phone conversations at KPFA, that’s just the beginning. Because they know that I am standing up against what they did to unpaid staff from the very beginning when it came up for the first contract and I said … and I fought for..and I told them it was wrong to take people’s rights as they had it in the contract and just take them away without notifying them …

KN: And there was no notification when they just cancelled people’s programs…

SG: Exacta, that’s what they did…

KN: …which was why I left. And then they had the nerve to give us these stacks…bureaucratic stack of papers to fill out if we wanted to make a proposal for a new program. I refused. I totally refused because that was no way to treat people who have worked their butts off literally for ages… I mean I had been at KPFA 13 years when my program was cancelled and I refused to make a new proposal when I was so abruptly and so grossly mistreated, as were my colleagues. And one of the things that I wanted to get to was the assumption has been made that the paid staff in this latest union negotiation sold out the unpaid staff in that the unpaid staff has been completely eliminated from the contract. Is that true, first? That the unpaid staff has no protections whatsoever?

SG: That’s true. As a shop steward, when that happened, I put a fight. Once I found out that they have used unpaid staff as a bargaining chip. You see, up to the point that the negotiators came out from the negotiating table, there was never agreed…never agreed...in the body, in the unit, that the unpaid staff was going to be taken off the contract. When that came out in the first meeting during the negotiations, I put a fight for it. I said it was illegal, I said it was, you know, it was wrong to take people’s rights and just don’t inform them and I came up with a document that it was circulated, it was mailed out on my, from my own pocket. I took the chance, I took the money and I sent it out to the unpaid staff to find out that there rights were being taken away from them and they better do something otherwise they going to be completely without any rights at KPFA.

Now, that move produced a backlash against me and I had to fight it off all the way because there is a group of people at KPFA, staff people, paid staff people, who are behind the move of taking unpaid staff completely off the contract. Is not all the paid staff, is not all the staff members at KPFA who are supporting this. OK, I want to make that clear. There is certain elements at KPFA, there is certain staff people who have personal or whatever secret agendas that were concerned with unpaid staff and volunteers, and those people are the responsible people for taking off unpaid staff from KPFA from United Electric Workers [sic] and right now they have no contract.

KN: I have enormous respect for you, Samuel Guia, for taking the stand that you have and taking the risk of coming here to Free Radio Berkeley and letting our listeners know what is really going on. I think you’re… it took a certain amount of courage. You have a baby, you just told me you have a 15 –month old baby, and you have a family to take care of. And you’re literally putting your job on the line.

SG: Yes, it’s true Kiilu that I am putting my job in the line, but there’s something I made it clear when I came up and defended unpaid staff, and I told them very clearly, I wasn’t paid staff when I came to KPFA. I work from the apprenticeship program my way up.

I became a staff member after Chupoo Alifante hire me into the computer department. But I spent a year and a half working as a volunteer for KPFA, and that’s the way I came. So, I could not just turn my back and walk off from unpaid staff.

Number two, that a number of people on unpaid staff were Latinos, were people of color like you and me…people who were pretty much just put off the air, you know. And not only that…

KN: Blacks. Latinos, Asians, Native Americans…

SG: Kiilu, we had a program at KPFA we fought for, and Patricia Terrazas help us to get at KPFA, and it was a program on Sunday. It was the only program on Sunday that was people of color. It was music. That program was the only program that was cancelled. After the changes happened, it was kept for about a year and then they pulled the plug…and a man from Haiti who was playing Haitian music…it was the only program that was rotated. Rotated from the Native Americans, it was given to the Latinos, it was given to Hawaiian people…finally it was given to the Haitians people, and after that they pulled the plug on it. It was so mean….

KN: And what did they replace it with?

SG: More drama and literature, more "apple pie." You see, the way they did it… it was such a move … it was so much hypocrisy behind it, because during that time…

KN: …the whitening of Pacifica

SG: Well that’s what it is…

KN: And a sharp move to the right…

SG: Yeah, definitely. Definitely. And I have some document, and I really just want to read something. This came out not long ago, and it was a document that was passed on to staff people by former General Manager Marci Lockwood. And it says "Summary of Planning Discussions on April 26 and April 28. And this is what they call "KPFA’s successes over the past three years. It was passed to staff and there’s some really offending language here. And be careful with this kind of documents here, because they are using these documents to rally staff people behind Pacifica.

And the second paragraph reads:

"KPFA retains its commitment to retaining diversity on the air, but is striving to develop a new multicultural model. For example: There are few if any blocks of programming in the afternoon for African Americans and evening for Mexican Americans, and more toward reflecting the concerns and issues faced by different populations in more mainstream programs of interest to a diverse audience.

In addition, KPFA seeks to provide diverse people with opportunities to establish their own credibility as journalists and other information sources."

KN: In other words, you can use Pacifica as a stepping stone into the commercial major ABC, CBS, media.

SG: Well, this is NPR. We are probably going to match KQED very soon.

KN: Actually, I’ve brought along a commentary by Michael Parenti which I want to read shortly after our discussion which deals with the overall mass media.

SG: Now there is something else in the move really, the reason for removing the staff people for the layoffs, in a way it really follows the next statement.

[reading from Marci Lockwood Document]

"An infrastructure is in place which allows the station to make changes. This infrastructure includes contracts and feedback mechanisms, which allow for greater accountability. The station is now structured around, air management, not departments, which supports a greater espirit de corps. There are fewer programmer islands and more value is placed on the producer role. In addition, more and more department heads are hired based on management skill, not seniority. "

This is a move that Pacifica has made already in LA with the station KFCF [sic] and it tried to make the same move in New York but WBAI put a really strong opposition…

KN: They’ve got a very strong…

SG: They have a very strong union. They really behave like union people. Not KPFA. And I’m really sorry to say it, we are really split, really divided at KPFA at the staff level. There is two clear blocks of people: one that is trying to defend our rights as workers, and another block that wants to go management way. And is very difficult to work with a divided body.

KN: Oh, I’m sure… That’s one of the reasons I really don’t care to work at KPFA because the atmosphere is so chilling.

SG: Right. Now, you said a while ago that I’m a courageous person. Kiilu, there has been many courageous people who came to KPFA and spoke out. And once they see these people leaving and never coming back, that’s when I start wondering, "Am I really broadcasting from the wrong radio station? "

KN: That’s a good question. (she laughs)

SG: ..and I have presented that question to my wife and to myself and I cam pretty much to the conclusion that if I cannot exercise my first right amendment of free speech at KPFA, what the hell I am doing there?

KN: Yes, I hear you.

SG: You know it’s a tough decision… there is a gag rule in there …and is not only a gag rule, they have already a mechanism to pull the plug on you and you can’t say a word . You have to just walk out. And its really sad.

KN: Now let’s get to the firings. They fired Barrie Scott who headed up the Third World Department for probably well over a decade, and I don’t know how many years but its been quite a while. It more than a decade because I was, I came in ’83 and I think she was heading the department then, but in any case Barrie Scott is an African American woman. I really, when I mentioned that Pat Scott was African American I was thinking of Barrie. Barrie, when I mentioned it, just to point out that she was fired. But, I wouldn’t evenuse African American to describe Pat Scott. I would just say oreo, or Negro ..something (she laughs) I wouldn’t give her any…

SG: I call her the gang leader

KN: Yes, I think she’s an agent. I really do.

SG: I don’t know, I have no idea.

KN: If she’s not she should be getting paid, you know what I mean (she laughs) In any case, who else was fired? Can you give out the other names?

SG: There were Ralph Steiner, he was Art Director for the Folio and .. Ralph and Dan, both of them …the Folio’s pretty much history. If you look at the last Folio that came out, is almost a joke. Because it cost them almost double the amount of money as the previous Folio, which they said it was too expensive.

KN: They find money when they want it…They operate very similarly to the way corporations operate, and the government operates, they find money when they want to find money, otherwise they’re broke all the time.

SG: Now there’s a development there, Kiilu, that actually I talked to Ralph and Ralph told me that there was a consultant that came to KPFA/Pacifica and told them that they had to get rid of the Folio about three years ago. There’s a name that was floating around for a while. I am sure Ralph knows who the person is. So, ever since this man came and told them that they had to get rid of the Folio, they’ve been moving toward that direction.

Same thing with the programming. Same thing with the format. There was somebody who came who came from the outside, as a consultant, and Marci Lockwood and Ginny Berson said that even though the consultant had an opinion they were not following the consultant’s recommendations, when in fact, that was exactly what they were doing.

Now, the problem is not that much format. The format is part of the problem. The real problem is content . If you listen to KPFA today and you listen to the shows that they have, listen to the content. What are they talking about? Who is speaking for who?

KN: Some of the content is amazingly mainstream and Rightist. It’s the established position pretty much. It’s really sad because they’ve strayed far from the original mission of KPFA to provide a real viable alternative to the mainstream media, and its not doing that anymore. Its trying its hardest to become mainstream media, and I think that’s really sad. But I also at the same time think that micro-radio is our best bet in combating this trend toward the right, and if people would give micro-radio a little more support I think we can be the force that pulls from the Left, if you know what I mean.

SG: I agree with you on that respect Kiilu, and I think you people are very courageous as well, staying on the air and fighting off the FCC. You know there is very stiff rules that governs public radio right now, and one of the reasons, there is a document that was produced by Pacifica called the "5 Year Strategic Plan" and if you haven’t had a chance to read that document its pretty much a recipe to go into the market and get the money.

Right now KPFA/Pacifica is pretty much driven by ratings and money.

KN: Same as the mainstream media.

SG: Exactly. Basically that’s what is happening right now at KPFA, and outlets like this, what I call a homemade radio are the last hope for us in the community..

KN: I call it guerrilla radio. (laughs)

SG: Well, you know I’m Peruvian. In Peru, a lot of the guerrilla, we do it at home. So its proper to call it guerrilla radio as well as homemade . I’m really glad that I have a chance to talk to your audience this morning in Berkeley.

KN: Samuel Guia, I appreciated your coming very much and I would like to give you an opportunity to say some last words because our time is just about up and let people know what they can do.

SG: At this point, if you call KPFA and try to get Pat Scott, she’s going to send you to Burt Glass, a thirty-five thousand dollars man that works for Pacifica pretty much disinforming people, or just saying plain lies and joking about it. So he will give you the round about…it’s a waste of time. But still, I think that if you place a call she will know that the community is beginning to react. That the community is not blind, that there’s somebody in the community that knows already what is cooking.

I actually recommend to call Lynne Chadwick, because she was the one who did the layoffs, and it was so hypocritical her attitude. I was present when Patricia Terrazas was given the pink . It was so hypocritical.

KN: How much notice did they get?

SG: Two weeks. You know they also layoff the assistant manager. His name is Phil Osegueda. And he was given six months. Can you believe this? Six months! It was so hypocritical. The whole thing was so hypocritical.

KN: Oh, my goodness!

SG: Laying off Barrie Scott, a woman who had put her soul into Pacifica. That woman had brought money into Pacifica . Is not just soul, she brought money. She brought talent. She brought Chuy Varela into Pacifica, into KPFA. They broke her heart. They asked for her keys right there, right in her office. And not only they asked for her keys, they wanted to give her responsibilities to Chuy Varela. They asked Chuy Varela to do her job.

She is working like time and half in the music department and they wanted him to take Barrie’s responsibility! These people have no idea what they are doing with KPFA, and if they do, they are really screwed up in their heads.

I’m talking about two women who work in radio for a long time. I’m not talking about people who just walk off the street. Now, these kinds of developments, this kind of nonsense, these kinds of things that are happening right now at KPFA we have to denounce it.

We have to make that call to KPFA. (510) 848- 6767 and ask to talk to the general manager Lynne Chadwick, and ask what the hell is going on. Why they are laying off very capable people. People who have spent many years as volunteers, as Patricia is still a volunteer on Saturday nights.

But the thing is, the point is there are still people like Patricia, there are still people like Barrie, people like me who are putting a fight, and if at this point we don’t hear from the community we are pretty much history. And if that’s the way we have to go, we might as well go and find something else. But, we’re not going to give up the fight.

KN: All right. Well, on that note, I want to thank you very much, Samuel Guia, of KPFA for coming to Free Radio Berkeley and letting us get the real facts of what’s been going on. Thank you very much and I wish you the best.

SG: Thank you very much Kiilu. Thanks for your audience.

KN: Take care. And once again, you’re tuned to Free Radio Berkeley, 104.1 FM, and this is Freedom is a Constant Struggle with your host Kiilu Nyasha.