There’s been a battle going on out in San Francisco involving union employees at KNBR and Cumulus. The employees have been the only side taking that battle to the public with press conferences. Until now that is.
Here’s a statement Cumulus management released on Tuesday. “Recently, it has come to our attention that our KNBR SAG-AFTRA employees have been holding press conferences expressing their concern that KNBR is either not agreeing to wage increases, or is offering only very small increases, in the context of its union contract negotiations. While KNBR normally would not comment on these negotiations, it is important that our San Francisco business partners, clients, city officials, and employees understand that such statements are completely false.
In fact, during the last negotiation session, which included the assistance of a federal mediator, the company offered wage increases ranging from 3% to 16.3% depending on the pay and the position held by KNBR union members, which by any means are significant. The company has also offered other concessions, including paid vacation for KNBR’s part-time employees, which is a benefit largely unavailable to part-time employees. Unfortunately, the union has responded with wildly unreasonable demands, including, without limitation: demands for immediate wage increases as high as 145%, total increases of nearly 153%, and time off proposals that are completely unworkable.
We greatly value all of our KNBR employees and are committed to reaching a fair agreement. We will continue to strive to reward the efforts of our KNBR employees, and look forward to receiving the next offer from SAG-AFTRA, for which we have been waiting since February, 2016.”
— Justin Wittmayer, Vice President/Market Manager, Cumulus Media-San Francisco
