CA Radio: KCRW Reaches Collective Bargaining Agreement

Employees at Santa Monica-based KCRW 89.9 FM, which airs news and music from Santa Barbara to Palm Springs, have completed their first collective bargaining agreement, the latest action in a growing move in public radio and podcasting to unionize, The L-A Times reports.

The group We Are KCRW said in a tweet Thursday that it had reached a tentative agreement on a first contract, which will be subject to ratification, after almost a year of bargaining — and despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

HUGE NEWS: After almost a year of bargaining, partly in a pandemic, we have reached a tentative agreement in our first contract (subject to ratification). It’s the result of hard work, unity and collaboration.
✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽✊🏼✊🏻 #Solidarity

— We Make KCRW (@wemakeKCRW) July 2, 2020

The group sought pay equity and a more diverse workforce to better represent its city. It did not disclose the terms of the agreement; it follows a vote in June 2019 to recognize SAG-AFTRA, which represents 160,000 actors and performers, as the KCRW workers’ labor union.

The agreement marks the latest success story for workers in radio and digital media who increasingly have been moving to unionize. Across the country, journalists at digital news groups, podcasting companies like the Ringer and Spotify and public radio stations have been organizing to improve wages and working conditions.

The KCRW bargaining unit consists of more than 90 DJs, hosts, producers, engineers and reporters, among others, who create the music and news programming, podcasts, digital content and live events that sustain the station. Management, led by KCRW President Jennifer Ferro, said when its employees joined forces with SAG-AFTRA that it supported the move to create a better workplace and recognized the union.

Some employees, like L.A.-based Cerise Castle, had shared their experiences of pay disparities and micro-aggressions via social media. “I’ve been told by white employees that I ‘don’t look like I work’ at KCRW,” the multimedia journalist tweeted last month. “I found out just a few weeks ago I make $12k less than white employees with my job.” She said unionizing was important to protect employees of color like her.

KCRW 89.9 FM (6.9 Kw)

In a statement Thursday, KCRW said it was proud to have its first contract with SAG-AFTRA. “Each and every day, KCRW strives to inspire our listeners — across Southern California and across the globe — with the content we put on the air and online,” Ferro said. “I have never met a more talented or more dedicated team of people. We are happy to have worked together in order to benefit the organization for years to come.”