After many months of the two sides trying to find a solution, an arbitrator finally sided with SAG-AFTRA at the end of last week, ruling that Cumulus Media Chicago was in violation of their union contract and the broadcaster now owes some past and present employees back pay.
According to Chicagland Radio&Media, when Emmis Communications owned and operated WLUP-97.9 FM The Loop and WKQX-FM/then-Q101, they began voice-tracking. Emmis' agreement with SAG-AFTRA was that their DJs would work a six-day week and would be paid for 36 hours of work. If the DJ was to voice-track a weekend show during the week, they would still get paid the same amount.
In July 2011, Merlin Media took control of the radio stations. In January 2014, Cumulus Media took over operations of the two radio station via an LMA.
In the spring of last year, employees at WLUP-FM filled complaints with SAG-AFTRA. The union had been trying to find a fair solution with Cumulus Media for many months, but were unsuccessful.
Cumulus Media believed the employees should be compensated for the time they are in the station working, not how much they are heard on the air. The union felt that if the stations were using these DJs voices to make the public believe they were live on the air seven days a week and on holidays, the DJs should be paid for their work accordingly. In other words, according to CRM, the station was profiting from the DJs' work seven days a week and not compensating them for that.
Unable to reach a compromise solution, the case went to arbitration, using an independent judge from the American Arbitration Association.
The arbitrator sided with SAG-AFTRA, giving his opinion and award to the DJs. Cumulus has not commented or released a statement.
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