Feds Cite CNN’s “Anti-Union Animus”, Reject Latest Appeal In Worker Firings

Source: Deadline

CNN has lost another round in the broadcast industry’s longest-running labor dispute – a battle that’s been going on so long that some of the workers wrongfully terminated by the news network 12 years ago have died before they could be rehired, as ordered by the National Labor Relations Board.

by David Robb

The NLRB has rejected the news network’s latest appeal in the case that began in 2003, when CNN decided to get rid of some 300 unionized technicians in its New York and Washington, Image (4) NLRB-logo__140516232542.jpg for post 731930D.C., bureaus and replace them with non-union workers. The union workers had been employed under a NABET-CWA contract through a subcontracting company called Team Video Services. But when CNN ended its relationship with the subcontractor, it rehired about 200 of the TVS workers – and another 100 new hires – without benefit of a union contract. The union then filed a complaint with the NLRB, charging CNN with unfair labor practices. The NLRB agreed and, finding that an “anti-union animus” had motivated its reorganization plan, ordered the network to rehire about 100 of the fired workers and to compensate the other 200 who’d been rehired for their lost union wages and benefits.

CNN appealed, but an administrative law judge upheld the ruling in 2008. CNN appealed again, and this week the NLRB denied the network’s motion for reconsideration, ruling that CNN had been the workers’ joint employee and therefore was bound by the terms of the union’s contract with TVS.

“This company has dragged its feet every step of the way,” said CWA president Larry Cohen. “But after more than a decade of delays, CNN is finally running out of options. It’s time for CNN to follow the law and end the enormous damage to these employees and their families.”

FULL story at link.



Read more: http://deadline.com/2015/03/feds-cite-cnns-anti-union-animus-reject-latest-appeal-in-worker-firings-1201397903/