March 24, 2000
EDITOR'S NOTE: Workers at the Spanish-language Univision station KFTV-21 in Fresno have been on a hunger strike to protest the company's lack of "good faith" in negotiating a labor contract. KFTV reportedly earns more than $8 million annually, has excellent ratings and a constantly growing audience. Yet, the workers say, they are being paid starvation wages.
By Eduardo Stanley
PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE
FRESNO — Cesar Chavez's ghost runs through California's Central Valley. The hunger strike, one of the tools used by the late farm worker leader, is being used by 14 workers at the Spanish-language Univision station in Fresno to protest the company's lack of "good faith" in negotiating a labor contract.
On May 4, 1999, the KFTV-21 workers voted to unionize. The workers are now represented by the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians-Local 51 (NABET) to negotiate a contract.
As a former news director at the television station (1986-89) I take pride in seeing a group of youngsters bravely confront a multi-million dollar company bent on defeating their fight for justice. What we couldn't achieve ten years ago is a reality today: to fight for workers' dignity in a Latino business accustomed to exploiting its workers and subduing them through demagogy ("Latinos shouldn't fight each other"), blackmail and intimidation.
"It's not about trying to be Gandhi. We were not being taken seriously and had to make a point."
— Fermin Chavez, anchor at the Univision station in Fresno, California.
Yesterday, as today, Univision salaries are minuscule compared to the type of work performed. Currently, news anchor Fermin Chavez, with several years of experience, makes $32,500 a year. In comparison, his colleagues at English-language stations make around $80,000 a year.
News reporter Reina Cardenas, a UCLA graduate with three years experience, earns $25,300. The most pathetic case is that of Martin Castellano, a 10-year veteran as the station's control master, who earns $21,481. He works ten hour shifts without an official lunch break.
During the years I worked at Univision, I heard different managers say that they couldn't raise salaries due to low station earnings. Today, KFTV-21 earns more than $8 million annually. They have excellent ratings and their audience grows constantly. Univision simply doesn't want to set an example and have other stations unionize. It doesn't want to recognize workers' rights, however minimal these might be.
The strikers denounced the divisive tactics used by the station's management, which promoted several workers that rejected unionization. For example, a reporter was promoted to producer; another received full-time benefits and promises of future promotions. If that weren't enough, Univision practically froze negotiations with strikers for several months. Thus, on February 18, the workers decided to carry out a hunger strike, "as a way to attract the community's attention surrounding our situation."
Of the 14 original protesters only two remain on a hunger strike: Martin Castellano and Reina Cardenas. They have been on strike for 30 days. The rest were asked to end their hunger strike for medical reasons.
The ongoing protest outside Channel 21 has received strong community support and ample media coverage, though mainly from the English-language media. The news spread beyond the San Joaquin Valley, as CNN, CNBC, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Boston Globe among others covered the strike.
Among the Spanish-language media, however, coverage was insignificant. The same can be said of the attitude among Latino government officials.
In Fresno's City Council, three of the seven councilmen are Latinos, but none of them have expressed support or sympathy for the strikers, and they have not responded to repeated telephone calls. Calls to the only Latino Fresno County Supervisor and state representatives Dean Flores and Sarah Reyes, and lieutenant governor Cruz Bustamante, also went unanswered.
This attitude by Latino politicians and the Spanish-language press is repulsive. But there's something positive in it all: it reveals that a common race, language or culture are irrelevant in labor problems between exploiters and the exploited. Latino bosses exploit as much as their Anglo counterparts. But they are even worse because they use the demagogy of race to silence workers seeking better conditions.
Many of these politicians are the ones who, during public speeches, speak of their humble origins and of their search for social justice. But when they have the opportunity to support workers in the flesh they disappear, hiding behind their assistants. Some directors at non-profits also refuse to support the strikers, although in private they recognize that the struggle is just. They fear that Channel 21 would no longer give them free air time, or coverage once in a while.
It's sad to recognize this miserable treatment from a well-known company which, in some way, forms part of the daily lives of our people.
A determined group of workers in Fresno uncovered the reality and opened a debate that promises to continue for a long time. It's another reason to thank them for their valor and dignity.
Translation: Alfonso Serrano F.
Eduardo Stanley is a freelance journalist based in the San Joaquin Valley who worked at KFTV for six years.
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