This goes back to the claims made by SAG-AFTRA on August 29 regarding alleged anti-union actions in Los Angeles. SBS Chairman Raúl Alarcón says, “The recent allegations trumpeted by the Union against our company are not only totally false and malicious, they are, in fact, an insult to the talented and professional on-air personnel the Union claims to represent.”
Alarcón went on to say, “Not only are the recent claims not true in the case of our Los Angeles personnel, they are untrue as evidenced by hundreds of employees who have worked at SBS during nearly 35 years of operations at dozens of broadcasting facilities throughout the country. I find it ironic that, at this critical juncture when Latino culture and its institutions are under relentless attack, the Union has singled out for criticism the one truly national Hispanic media organization with an unblemished historical record of service to our community. Nevertheless, the Company will vigorously defend itself against these false claims to the fullest extent permitted by the law”, asserted Alarcón.
Back on August 29, SAG-AFTRA held a press conference where several current and former employees at La Raza 97.9 and MEGA 96.3 in L.A. spoke out about unfair treatment at the Spanish-language broadcast company. SAG-AFTRA said SBS has committed a myraid of labor law violations. They say the former employees were unlawfully terminated by SBS and the current employees are underpaid. Six labor charges against SBS, citing the alleged unlawful firing of eight employees in retaliation for their union activities and threatening to terminate six additional workers. SAG-AFTRA attorney Julie Gottlieb said, “They were treated as second-class citizens. This company is the most outrageous I have ever seen.”
SBS General Counsel, Richard D. Lara, said, “It is unfortunate that SAG-AFTRA once again is resorting to blatant and transparent attempts at intimidating our Company into accepting unfair contract demands. SBS has provided witness testimony and thousands of documents to the NLRB directly contradicting the outlandish SAG-AFTRA allegations concerning a handful of employees at our two LA-based radio stations, and we fully expect to prevail against these spurious claims Despite the Union’s schoolyard tactics, SBS will continue to coordinate, cooperate and negotiate in good faith with SAG-AFTRA as we expect the Union to focus on the facts and discontinue making untrue and inflammatory remarks in the media.”
