Strike at KDNA puts station off the air

http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2009/05/16/05-16-09-web-kdna

Yakima Herald-Republic

GRANGER -- Radio KDNA employees have gone on strike and the station has been off the air since around 8:30 a.m. today.

Around 2 p.m., about 40 station listeners and supporters joined employees picketing with Teamster signs outside the station's home on Sunnyside Avenue.

Employees say they elected to go on strike early this morning in support of two former co-workers who they believe were unfairly terminated during an organizing campaign with Teamsters Union Local 760.

Problems at the Yakima Valley's only Spanish-language public broadcaster began last summer, when KDNA's board of directors hired Maria Fernandez to replace executive director Ricardo Garcia, who retired.

"We are no longer getting the respect we deserve," KDNA night supervisor Manuel López said. "We no longer have a voice here. In the 29 years of this station's existence, we have never had to go off the air because of a labor conflict like this."

For more on this story, check Sunday's Yakima Herald-Republic.


-- Melissa Sánchez

The strike referenced in the above post ended after 26 days, but the conditions for employees and the community of listeners and supporters has steadily deteriorated. Anyone interested in learning more about how a community public radio station can be ripped from the hands of the people that supported it for thirty years should take a look at http://www.kdna.fm