WTTW Technicians On Strike Against Chicago Public TV Station

Techs on strike at WTTW (Chicago Tribune photo)

Two dozen striking WTTW technicians came out from behind the cameras and held a union rally in front of the station’s North Side studios Monday seeking support in their quest for job guarantees and a new labor contract.

The employees, all members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1220, went on strike Wednesday after being unable to reach an agreement with WTTW-Ch. 11 following nearly a year of negotiations. It is the first such strike in the 67-year-history of the Chicago public TV station.

“We’ve had a contract with WTTW since 1955 and we’ve never had a problem of this magnitude with the company,” said John Rizzo, business manager for Downers Grove-based IBEW Local 1220, which represents radio and television broadcast engineers at a number of stations in Chicago.

The striking IBEW workers include camera operators, graphic artists and floor crew responsible for various productions at WTTW, including the station’s signature nightly news program, “Chicago Tonight.” The IBEW technicians have been behind the scenes at WTTW since its inception as one of the first public TV stations in the U.S., bringing to life seminal local programming such as “Soundstage” and “Check, Please!” over the years.

The technicians had been working without a labor contract since July, when a one-year extension of the previous four-year agreement expired. The issues are job protection and work jurisdiction, according to the union, which alleges WTTW is trying to farm out their long-standing technical duties to news producers and nonunion personnel.

“They want to replace us with nonunion workers,” Rizzo said. “They’re trying to kill us on attrition.”