iHeartMedia, which will soon acquire legendary WBZ 1030 AM, has notified employees they must re-apply for their jobs and that it will not honor two SAG-AFTRA contracts.
The move came after iHM managers visited the station Thursday. According to Tom Higgins, the Boston-based national director for the union iHM managers stated they wanted the transfer from CBS Radio to iHM to be 'seamless'.
The letters to to Higgins arrived a few hours later. In part, the letter stated that the company “will interview and consider for employment the on-air announcers and off-air production staff currently employed by CBS at WBZ-AM.”
Higgins told The Boston Globe, “This sure doesn’t sound like seamless.” He forwarded the letter to WBZ staff on Friday. The station’s employees, he said, were in “total disbelief.”
Representatives from iHeartMedia have not commented publicly. Higgins said his union plans to meet with iHeartMedia representative Monday.
“They should honor our union contracts,” he said. “They should not disrespect people by having them re-apply for jobs that they’ve had for decades in some cases.”
An estimated 75 to 100 employees, including on-air talent, writers, producers, editors, and production assistants, would be affected..
It was announced last week that WBZ was among the Boston radio stations slated to get new owners under a deal that was aimed at winning federal approval of Entercom Communications Corp.’s merger with CBS Radio. As part of that deal, iHeartMedia would own WBZ-AM and classic rock WZLX 100.7 FM, while Entercom would get iHM stations in other cities.
The deal is expected to close November 17.
No comments:
Post a Comment