Chip Johnson's column in the East Bay section of the SF Chronicle, Saturday,
October 4th, includes these sympathetic comments.
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 "KPFA-FM: It hardly seems possible, but the management at KPFA, champions of progressive thinking, has gone corporate, according to its detractors. In negotiating a contract with a new labor union, Pacifica Radio, the parent company for five public radio stations around the nation, refused to include unpaid staff workers in the deal.

 This turn of events has caused quite a flap locally and elsewhere. The
company has taken a similar stance at its stations in New York and Los
Angeles, said John Dugan, a union organizer for the Communication Workers of America, which now represents the radio station workers.

What's more, the station has appealed a New York state labor board ruling in
favor of the unpaid staff to the national arbitration board. Burt Glass, a spokesman for Pacifica Radio (as in nonprofit corporate spokesman), said a
ruling on that appeal is expected soon.

Under the old contract, unpaid staff members received stipends for transportation and childcare as well as grievance rights.

 The unpaid staff members are working with union officials to craft a plan to
gain representation. Paid staff members who signed the contract made it
known to management that they wanted unpaid staff represented in the union, Dugan added.

 Glass said the nonprofit company did not want to include unpaid staff in the
union contract because of the vast differences between the two groups.

"We don't think the proper forum for volunteers to make their voice heard
its through the collective bargaining unit," Glass said. "An alternative
mechanism of some sort must be set in place."