August 13, 1997
The Naked Eye

KPFA clash

By Ron Curran

THE BATTLE for the heart and soul of KPFA-FM intensified last week when union employees rejected a contract offer they said was a management scheme to repeal hard-won rights.

Although negotiators for both sides refuse to publicly discuss the standoff, documents obtained by the Bay Guardian indicate that the parent Pacifica Foundation wants to impose regressive rollbacks at the public station, which was created as a voice for progressive politics.

The new contract would allow management at KPFA (and sister station KPFB-FM in Berkeley) to hire and fire on-air employees at will, strip unpaid staffers of workplace protections, and limit union activity -- with the threat of termination if those limits are violated.

Though the contract obligates management not to instigate lockouts, that promise comes with a few significant conditions: "There shall be no strikes, sit-downs, job actions, stoppage of work, slowdowns, retardation of work procedures, boycott, sympathy strikes, corporate campaigns, or any act that interferes with the employer's operations," reads one clause. "Any violation of the foregoing provisions may be made the subject of disciplinary action, including discharge."

Another clause stipulates, "on-air and executive producer employees hired after 8-1-97 can be terminated without cause for programming and creative reasons." Critics argue that language violates the original Pacifica free-speech mission by forcing KPFA journalists to shape their programming to appease management at the expense of reporting news or providing entertainment that listeners can't get anywhere else.

Talks between reps of the Communications Workers of America Local 9415, and outgoing KPFA general manager Marci Lockwood and Pacifica consultant Larry Drapkin grew increasingly tense as an August 1 deadline approached.

Pacifica executive director Pat Scott referred our questions to communications director Burton Glass, who responded tersely, "For the Bay Guardian, I have no comment." When asked if he was blacking us out while fielding questions from other media, he said, "I have no comment on that either."

Contract opponents contend the proposed changes not only would threaten workplace rights for dozens of employees but would diminish the quality -- and erode the politics -- of KPFA programming.

"This agreement gives us, the nuts-and-bolts workers of Pacifica, an empty bowl of porridge and gives to Pacifica's current managers the absolute right, at whim and without explanation, to decide who comes and goes on the air," KPFA shop steward and longtime Flashpoints producer Dennis Bernstein wrote to fellow employees in a July 30 memo. "We are talking about absolute control over the message and the women and men who speak it. Given the current configuration, this gives Pat Scott the ultimate say on who gets what porridge, when, how much, and on what basis."

KPFA employees agreed, so negotiations will continue.