This article was underwritten in part by the Mickey Flacks Journalism Fund for Social Justice, a proud, innovative supporter of local news. To make a contribution go to sbcan.org/journalism_fund.
Last week, videographers, editors, multimedia journalists, directors, and producers at KEYT News in Santa Barbara voted to join Local 600, the International Cinematographers Guild, a union that represents 13 other broadcast news stations nationwide.
Gene Silva, a videographer at KEYT, said the vote was 17 to 13 in favor of joining the union and that a major issue was employee pay. “I’ve been working there for three years,” Silva said. “I’ve won two Golden Mic [Awards], I have one Emmy nomination, and I make 50 cents above minimum wage.”
KEYT’s parent company, News-Press & Gazette Company (NPG) is a family-owned private company headquartered in Missouri. It owns several TV stations on the West Coast, including in Santa Maria (KCOY), San Luis Obispo (KKFK), Monterey, Salinas, Santa Cruz, and Palm Springs in California.
Silva said that the momentum to unionize came earlier this year, when NPG reduced employees’ holiday days in order to comply with California’s minimum number of required sick days (five).
“What management told us was that it would cost the company too much money to do both our sick days and our regular two days of personal time (PTO),” he said.
As a private company, NPG’s financial records are not publicly available, and it did not respond to requests for comment as of this issue’s deadline.
KEYT currently has a job posting for a bilingual multimedia journalist/weekend sports anchor (a full-time role) that advertises an annual salary of $37,000 to $39,00 a year. An audio/graphics operator, who creates and manages visuals for live broadcasts, can expect about $16 an hour.
In a press release, Local 600 said that KEYT is the first station owned by NPG to unionize, doing so in spite of what it called an extensive anti-union campaign from employers. The union has filed a case with the National Labor Relations Board charging NPG California of coercive statements and interrogation of employees regarding joining the union.
