SBS Blasts SAG-AFTRA For “Malicious Claims”

The Spanish Broadcasting System has fired back at SAG-AFTRA, which has accused the media company of failing to pay minimum wages and overtime to its employees at Los Angeles Spanish-language radio stations La Raza and Mega and refusing to bargain in good faith for a fair contract for them, according to deadline.com.

“The recent allegations trumpeted by the union against our company are not only totally false and malicious, they are, in fact, an insult to the talented and professional on-air personnel the union claims to represent,” SBS chairman Raúl Alarcón said in a statement.

Raul Alarcon

“Not only are the recent claims not true in the case of our Los Angeles personnel, they are untrue as evidenced by hundreds of employees who have worked at SBS during nearly 35 years of operations at dozens of broadcasting facilities throughout the country.”

Alarcón said SBS “will vigorously defend itself against these false claims to the fullest extent permitted by the law.”

La Raza and Mega are the first Spanish-language stations to organize in Los Angeles after their on-air talent voted overwhelmingly to join SAG-AFTRA on August 1, 2016. The union claims that since then, SBS “has violated federal law by refusing to bargain in good faith with SAG-AFTRA, and by retaliating against its on-air talent for unionizing by terminating eight employees who were openly supportive of SAG-AFTRA’s organizing effort and/or were owed monies in connection with SBS’ wage violations.”

SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris last week called on the State Labor Commissioner “to vigorously investigate the rampant violations of California wage and hour laws at SBS. Over the past 12 months, the company has also engaged in extensive and severe unfair labor practices, which are currently pending before the National Labor Relations Board. It has also done everything possible to hamper its negotiations with SAG-AFTRA. This is absolutely unacceptable. I have a message for SBS: We are not going away.”