Judge Slams CNN for Illegal Union Busting
This is a press release from the CWA:
Judge Slams CNN for Illegal Firing of NABET-CWA Members
In a major victory for NABET-CWA members who worked at CNN, a
National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge issued a
scathing decision against the cable network and ordered that 110
workers be rehired, the union recognized and their economic
losses restored.
CNN violated federal labor law and the legal rights of more than
250 workers at the Washington, D.C., and New York bureaus by
using a phony reorganization scheme for the sole purpose of
eliminating their NABET-CWA representation, the administrative
law judge found.
In late 2003, CNN terminated its more than 20-year contract with
Team Video Services, which employed union camera operators,
broadcast engineers and other technicians for CNN, in effect,
firing more than 110 workers. The network claimed it would
create its own unit of employees, however, Judge Arthur J.
Amchan called that unit a “sham,” used to get rid of employees
and their union. CNN’s goal was to “achieve a nonunion technical
work force in its Washington, D.C., and New York bureaus.” CNN’s
“widespread and egregious misconduct” showed a flagrant and
general disregard for employees’ fundamental rights, he said.
Noting that the case goes back nearly five years, CWA President
Larry Cohen stated: “This is a prime example of the way that
justice comes far too late, if at all, under our labor law
system. These workers never should have lost their bargaining
rights or their jobs, and it wouldn’t have happened if we had
the Employee Free Choice Act. What’s more, CNN has said it will
appeal this ruling. This should fire us up even more to fight to
strengthen workers’ bargaining rights.”
One of the fired workers, Jimmy Suissa, worked for CNN for 17
years, starting as a camera operator, but mastering nearly every
technical job in the Washington bureau, from running the audio
and video boards to technical director. “Many of us rotated
through these positions and that’s why we knew that CNN’s claims
that we weren’t able to learn new equipment were completely
false,” he said.
It was very stressful and difficult in the month leading up to
the point when CNN began firing workers, he said. And it was
clear that anyone associated with the union or providing
representation to workers on the job wasn’t going to be rehired
into the new non-union workplace.
Suissa said the process was disheartening because it took so
long to resolve. “It’s hard to find a job to replace the work I
was doing, and I’ve been making less money over these past
years,” he said.
Sarah Pacheco joined CNN as a videographer and worked at the
Washington bureau from 1990 to 2003, and she also was an active
and aggressive union steward. Despite acknowledged experience in
non-linear editing, a skill CNN management claimed was necessary
when it rejected other applicants, Pacheco was not rated among
the top 55 applicants. A “lack of people skills” described by
management likely “is related to her aggressiveness as a union
steward for (NABET-CWA) Local 31,” the judge wrote.
“I applied to Time Warner (CNN’s parent company) but never was
called,” she said. “This decision is tremendous and a validation
of our long fight,” she said.
The judge’s order calls for reinstatement and full back pay for
more than 110 employees, with training for those rehired, if
necessary, restoration of union representation and terms of the
former collective bargaining agreement, and the return of
bargaining unit work that has been outsourced since the
termination of the Team Video contracts.
