SAG-AFTRA Calls On Entercom For Fair Negotiations

SAG-AFTRA members are calling on Entercom Communications Corporation to engage in what calls 'fair contract negotiations'.

SAG-AFTRA members working at Entercom news and music stations in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and San Francisco have been in active negotiations for new union contracts since late last year. Negotiations are ongoing, but SAG-AFTRA members are going public for the first time with their disappointment with the company’s proposals.

“The company’s suggested proposals would erode significant benefits in our members’ contracts and lack recognition of the major contributions our members make to Entercom stations across the country,” said SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris. “We encourage a real partnership with Entercom as we look to achieve a meaningful and fair resolution of these negotiations.”

“We are members of the SAG-AFTRA Entercom family. Broadcasting is an industry of continual change and evolution, yet we have been the constant. We are devoted to our craft and embrace the opportunity to deliver the highest quality and most highly trusted content for our radio audiences."

“As SAG-AFTRA union members, we have advocated for our contracts to grow and evolve with our changing landscape to meet the needs of our work. We want our stations to grow and expand with new technologies and formats, and grow with them. Whether working in news or music, each of us and all of us are proud and strongly motivated to maintain and build upon the four pillars of our SAG-AFTRA agreements that:

• Establish and maintain industry standards for compensation, health and retirement, and severance benefits.
• Keep on-air voices live and local, and not voice-tracked and pre-recorded.
• Recognize the contribution of our part-timers as core members of our teams, through benefits and fair compensation.
• Keep and attract the best talent at our stations.

The SAG-AFTRA Broadcast Steering Committee, a national member committee of SAG-AFTRA will be meeting in Los Angeles on March 9th and the Entercom negotiations will be a priority topic of discussion. In 2017, Entercom merged with CBS Radio, resulting in the broadcaster expanding its network to nearly 250 stations. Because of this merger nearly all of the SAG-AFTRA-represented radio stations are now bargaining for the first time with their new employer.

In response, Entercom has released the following statement:

“We are incredibly proud of the award-winning work of our on-air teams and value their contributions to the company and the communities we serve. We have been negotiating with SAG-AFTRA in good faith to reach fair agreements. These discussions include contracts that had been open for years prior to our merger with CBS Radio, as well as more recently expired agreements. We prefer to negotiate directly with SAG-AFTRA and our employees, not publicly, and do not intend to comment further.”