PEORIA --There's an interesting labor struggle right here in River City. And a way for viewers to support their favorite television journalists.
AFTRA, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, is holding a rally at 5 p.m. on Wed. April 27 at the office of WEEK-WHOI TV, 2907 Springfield Road, East Peoria.
Here's what union members say is happening:
"The General Manager insists on keeping 'outsourcing' language in the Company's contract proposals.
We are facing the possibility of having their proposals IMPOSED upon us.
The rally at the Station is to let the Company see that the community supports LOCAL and PROFESSIONAL news.
It also gives us an opportunity to thank you for your support.
If you can make, please come out and stand with us.
We have researched Silverpointe (the Equity Company pulling the strings at Granite Broadcasting) and have found that the Corporate leaders are trying to build a casino in China, have holdings in the Cayman Islands, and one is a former Goldman Sachs executive. These are classic Wall Street fat cats who don't care about the LOCAL product.
Their goal is to squeeze the local operation dry and try to bust the Union. If they succeed, your information will suffer.
AFTRA won't go down without a fight! And we hope, you'll stand with us."
My take: this is a worthy cause. Show support at this rally!
-- Elaine Hopkins
Will this be on local TV?
Posted by: Steve Waterworth | April 24, 2011 at 08:07 PM