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Gene Coyle, eyewitness to July 13 arrests Photo: John of Bright Path Video In This Issue:
FCC ruling to make satellite channels
available to non-commercial programmers The following is a correspondence from Eric Galatas, FStv Program Manager: We are gearing up for a massive lobbying campaign to launch the USA's first full-time television network dedicated to progressive social change, and we need your help. Please take a moment to read the following call for action. Then, please send in a letter of support, and pass this notice on to people you know who want to help a full time progressive television network get off the ground. We feel it is important to demonstrate overwhelming demand in order to secure our chances of winning a full-time channel. Your assistance is critical, and deeply appreciated. Please contact me directly if you have any questions or concerns. --Eric Galatas, FStv Program Manager, As you are aware, television is the most powerful communication tool of our day, and is the sole monopoly of a handful of corporations. A recent FCC ruling to make satellite channels available to non-commercial programmers presents a rare opportunity for independent media activists and supporters. For five years, Free Speech TV has delivered -- on a part-time basis -- hard hitting, independent and informative programming to seven million U.S. homes every week. Thanks to this recent FCC ruling, we may soon be able to do this seven days a week, 24 hours a day. But we need your help. Action Request Please join the "I Want My FStv" campaign, and help Free Speech TV get a full time channel. It's easy, it's free, and it only takes a minute of your time to make a big difference. There are two ways to make your voice heard. Write a
Letters are a proven campaign tool, even more effective than phone calls. It takes time to write a clear and effective letter. So when government and business leaders receive them in large numbers, they take notice. Your letter can be very brief. If you don't have time to write one yourself, simply add your name (and where you're writing from) to the sample letter we can provide. Address your letter "To Whom It May Concern" If you have time to write your own letter, feel free to use these talking points. We need to convince Direct Broadcast Satellite operators of four things:
Cable, Digital and Monopolization By Steve Zeltzer The growing battle for control of the bandwidth on cable has important implications for working people. ATT recently lost a decision in Portland, Oregon when the city demanded that ATT open up the cable system to other online service providers. A Federal judge ruled that ATT could not exclude other internet service providers. The same struggle is going on in San Francisco and many other cities. This is not an abstract question for labor producers and programmers in the US and internationally. More and more video programming will be going up on the internet as the bandwidth expands and the speed increases. We must make sure our right to unimpeded access is not threatened by the corporate robber barons. The New York Times has also reported that the digitalization of television may lead to the elimination of community access and even C-Span from cable systems because of the massive expansion of television channels with the introduction of digital stations. This might threaten the existence of community access throughout the country. The effort of ATT to monopolize cable in the United
States with their own service provider At Home would eliminate the ability
of labor or other independent providers from The need for an open unionized space on the internet is vital. More and more organizing is being done on the internet and direct regular e-mailing to all the workers at a company such as Microsoft or Intel would not likely be supported by a corporate internet service provider. This is one reason that Ken Hamidi, the labor organizer at Intel, went to IGC-LaborNet. His web site was threatened by Intel who wanted to block his ability to reach the Intel workers. Labor must begin to develop an independent working class
view on the use and ownership of telecommunication. At Union Busting, Labor and Pacifica Radio by Steve Zeltzer When the only national alternative radio network is threatened with corporatization, this must be the concern of all unionists and working people. This is the present state of struggle and crisis at the Pacifica radio network. This network covers over 20% of the US population with stations in Houston, Washington, DC, Los Angeles and San Francisco as well as over 20 affiliated stations around the country. From the 1950s to the present, the Pacifica stations have been the only voice against the anti-communist witch-hunts, the Vietnam War and the Reagan union busting drive. For the dispossessed and the working class, Pacifica
has been in many, many cases the ONLY voice of truth against power. It
is also in this context that the latest battle takes place against Clinton
appointee to the US Civil Rights Commission Mary Frances Berry and her
operative in Pacifica, Lynn Chadwick. The most recent battle at Pacifica's
first and largest Salniker rewarded her by appointing her to Pacifica Executive Director and she launched the drive to tie programming at Pacifica stations to arbitron ratings. At the same time, Pacifica bosses began to seek ways to break down union conditions. Pat Scott, under the direction of Salniker, hired the union busting consultant firm American Consulting Group. Their new "proposal" included stripping workers of all say in the organization, eliminating the right to strike and excluding the unpaid staff from the station's unions. Pacifica management also denied knowing about the role of these unionbusters. Long time Sovietologist William Mandel was also unceremoniously thrown off the air. This was just the beginning of a purge of other programs including three labor programs by Steve Zeltzer [this writer], Reese Erlick, and R.J Thomson. The last remaining regular KPFA labor program is half-hour a week and is hosted by labor journalist David Bacon. Over 300 programmers ended up losing their radio shows. The potential for labor programming on Pacifica is significant. Pacifica, if it wanted to, could have a weekly hour-long labor show put up by satellite and also on the internet. This program would fill a large vacuum and would attract a significant audience among working people, yet a proposal for just such a program was rejected by David Salniker. By 1996, Pacifica had already spent over $60,000 on the ACG and other union busting proposals. It also sought to exclude New York WBAI non-paid staff from representation by the UE Local that represented the workers. It is presently fighting a decision of the NLRB that the union has the right to represent unpaid staff. It also hired ex-US Justice Department spokesperson Burt Glass to do "damage control." At KPFA, Pacifica management was successful in getting a new union, the CWA, and in excluding the unpaid staff from being represented by the union. Jack O'Dell, who had functioned as a tool of Salniker, now resigned because of the growing opposition to these policies and was replaced by Mary Frances Berry. Berry, a Clinton fan, supported a new policy for Pacifica in 1998 that barred programmers from encouraging attendance at rallies opposing the US blockade and war on Iraq. The effort by Berry and her supporters to "cleanse" the network was just beginning. At the same time, the board added a new labor representative William Lucy, Executive Vice President of AFSCME and also president of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. The effort to totally separate the Pacifica board from the community and further insulate the board operated in tandem with a proposal that the Pacifica Board would no longer contain Local Representatives. This was supported by Lucy and East Bay Congressperson Barbara Lee's assistant Roberta Brooks. Unlike even bay area KQED, the Pacifica board is unelected and unaccountable to the subscribers and funders of the stations. In February 1998, the Board met in Berkeley and all the local representatives resigned to become non-elected members of the new board. In October 1998, the Board also appointed Lynn Chadwick to take Pat Scott's position. Chadwick moved quickly to clean house. In December she fired national programmer and AFTRA member Larry Bensky--Bensky, because he felt that his program "Living Room" had been bled of funding. Nicole Sawaya, the news KPFA station manager, supported Bensky and allowed him to speak out. This would be one of the reasons that Sawaya would also get the ax in March of this year. She was supported on the air by Larry Bensky. For this violation of the unwritten "gag rule", Bensky was then fired again by Chadwick. One of the most corrupting aspects of this whole sorry
story is the potential destruction of the Pacifica archives. These archives
contain invaluable labor stories and labor Literally thousands of dollars have been wasted on these "consultants" who have absolutely no experience in professional archival work yet are funded by foundation grants for this very project. Stein, who spoke at the February 99 Pacifica Board meetings, warned of the problems of the archives and received no response from his warning. In fact he was unceremoniously fired only 2 weeks before the board meeting to prevent him from making a report to the full board. Unfortunately, William Lucy again went along with Berry and professed no knowledge of the firing of Stein. In a debate at this same board meeting with poet and publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Lucy defended Berry and the actions of the board to eliminate local representation. He also made no effort to contact Stein and find out what happened with his firing. According to a May 31, 1999 Mary Frances Berry letter to The Nation, the "strategic plan" required "greater administrative efficiency, consolidation of financial management, and support services and other functions to provide greater resource for programming." Interestingly enough Berry said she wanted more support for programs like "Democracy Now." "Democracy Now" has also been strangely very silent about the recent battles going on at KPFA. Berry also used the race card, accusing Alexander Cockburn
of attacking her, Pat Scott and Marian Wright Edelman only because "we
are Black women." Edelman, who actively supported Clinton's "welfare reform"
which put welfare workers into unionized public jobs, is another one of
Clinton's appointees. Is this an accident? Cockburn in his response to
Berry makes it clear whom she supports. "I thought I'd make it clear that
what Berry, Scott and Edelman have in common is their willingness in their
public role as liberal black women to act as troopers in defense of white
The purge went on with the firing of programmer Robbie Osman on June 12 and on June 21 Chadwick did a citizen's arrest of 14 people who were blocking the doorway to Pacifica. In an important example of the role of the Clinton administration in this struggle, a call by Berry to Reno of the Justice Department was used to put heat on the Berkeley police department for not being more aggressive with the demonstrators. A call was made from the Justice Department in Washington to the Berkeley police department to play a more active role. Chadwick then changed the combination of the lock and required all staff to get permission to enter from the guards. This is done without consultation of CWA Local 9415 which then filed a grievance against Chadwick and the change of work conditions without a discussion by the union. The latest escalation is the installation of armed guards in the station by Chadwick and Berry to protect it from itself. Chadwick and Berry have also brought in another union buster, Marie Acosta-Colon, formerly executive director of the San Francisco Mexican Museum. She was hired by Pacifica to raise funds. Acosta-Colon, according to the San Francisco Chronicle of May 26, 1996, had nearly destroyed the museum. During her six-year tenure there, the museum's finances fell into shambles and so great was workers' dissatisfaction that they decided to unionize. Acosta-Colon's rule finally ended, according to the Chronicle, when "a last-minute attempt to fire the staff, break the union and temporarily shutter the museum was defeated by a narrow majority of the board of trustees." Acosta-Colon was dismissed and the workers were successful in affiliating with SEIU 790. Berry and others might be looking for offers to sell the Pacifica stations since they are worth hundreds of millions of dollars and this may in fact be their end game. Trade unionists, unions and all labor communicators should take note. A critical battle is going on for the soul of independent radio and the only voice of working people. Please let Lucy know what you think as well as Berry. *
Continued on p. 2FStv Appeal Continued from
p. 1Pacifica, KPFA Continued from p. 1Continued on p. 6-2-Continued
on p. 3Pacifica, KPFA Continued from p. 2Mass Arrests at KPFA
Continued from p. 8 Photo: John of Bright Path Video-3-The Creator on New Labor Documentary A Few Thoughts on the Making
of When you watch the closing credits of the California
Federation of Teachers' new video series, "Golden Lands, Working Hands,"
you notice something immediately: a whole lot of Why this level of interest and participation? Because there is a tremendous need for teaching young people about labor history; and for the eight years it took to fund and make it, I have been promising teachers, union leaders and activists that that is exactly what "Golden Lands" will do. A ten-part documentary video series covering key events and issues in the state's colorful labor history, from the Gold Rush to the present day, "Golden Lands" is meant to acquaint students and union members with the contributions of working people to the state's economy, culture, and political institutions. Portions of the project, along the way, have already seen service on public television, museum exhibits and, of course, in classrooms. But completion of the three-hour video series in May of this year means that now publicity and distribution kick into high gear. And the proof of my assertion that "Golden Lands" will be a usable tool for labor education will be found (or not) in that pudding. The video is narrated by actor Joe Morton ("Brother From Another Planet," "Terminator II"), and features rare film footage, songs, animated cartoons, interviews, and reenactments of key moments in labor history by TV and stage stars Geoff Hoyle, Sharon Lockwood, and Herbert Siguenza. The video explores such topics as: * the Workingmen's Party of California, which, in the late nineteenth century, pushed a contradictory program of progressive ideas and anti-Chinese exclusion; * violent class war at the turn of the century between ironworkers and construction bosses, resulting in the fatal bombing of the Los Angeles Times Building in 1910; * the Japanese-Mexican Labor Alliance, which formed the first farmworker union, in Oxnard in 1903 -- as well as five other farmworker struggles, including the UFW; * independent working class political action, such as the electoral activities of the Union Labor Party and the Socialist Party, and the Wage Earners Suffrage League; * how the 1934 San Francisco General Strike and coast-wide maritime strike forged industrial unionism; * the struggle by a union-community coalition to forge an early civil rights victory, the Fair Employment Practices Act of 1959; * the rise of public sector unionism, born in the crucible of the mass movements of the 1960s and 70s. "Golden Lands" takes us right up to the present, dealing with current issues such as mass corporate 'downsizing,' part-time and temporary employment, inadequate health care coverage, and the battle for a living wage. It shows how today's labor movement is attempting to reinvent its tradition of standing up for working people, and how it continues to make history in the process. I worked with a team of California labor history scholars
and high school social studies teachers to insure "Golden Lands, Working
Hands" was accurate in its depiction of At many points during the eight years I complained about the slow response to my fundraising requests from labor organizations. But the fact is I raised nearly a quarter of a million dollars, and almost all of that came in direct contributions from unions. With the exception of the California Council for the Humanities, foundations were disinterested in the project. The two largest donations came from PG&E and Kaiser Permanente, but they arrived through the intervention of unions with relationships with those companies. Most union leaders and activists like the idea of labor history for students and their own members. But bogged down by the countless everyday details faced by understaffed locals, union leaders often drop labor education down the priority list. I raised money from unions fairly steadily, but it took a lot of work. Over time, I learned to focus on larger, better endowed unions and to ask for more money. Nevertheless, without the central financial support of the CFT, which gave me release time to work on the project, "Golden Lands" would not have happened -- at least, not with the scope (one might say the chutzpah) to cover 150 years. Let me offer a few pieces of advice to individuals and organizations interested in creating something similar for their own state or local labor history. First, raise enough money to hire enough people to adequately address the needs of researching, writing, and producing. If the story deserves to be told, it deserves to be told properly. Second, make sure the project is politics-proof. Get agreement up front from key players that this will be an honest assessment, confronting the negative as well as promoting the positive aspects of labor history. Kids aren't dumb. They know a commercial when they see one. Have the courage to believe that the moral and courageous side of labor history outweighs its less glorious moments, and talk about it all. This means acknowledging exclusionary practices and notorious instances of corruption alongside the main story of exemplary solidarity and sacrifice. Finally, plan how to reach the core audiences in an effective manner from the beginning. Labor history, like the labor movement itself, is ultimately about solidarity -- its successes and failures. I have tried to make sure that screenings of "Golden Lands" take place in collective settings whenever possible; students should watch in classrooms, and union members in meetings. Local PBS and cable airings are fine, but more for legitimacy in the real distribution venues that bring people together for collective viewing and discussion of issues. I emphasize collective viewing and discussion because broadcast television tends to atomize people into individual, passive consumers of images. Closed circuit video screenings with group interaction can, at least potentially, create the energizing connection of ideas shared among people, on the basis of which they can act. * The entire series of ten tapes costs $99.95 on VHS; with lesson plans, it's $129.95. For more information, contact Fred Glass at 510/832-8812, or email him at cftoakland@igc.org
Teamster Victory Mural To commemorate the historic 1997 Teamster strike victory
over United Parcel Service, Local 705 at Teamster City in Chicago commissions
internationally respected labor muralist Mike Alewitz to paint a mural
measuring 130 feet by
Alewitz, Director of the Labor Art and Mural Project at the Labor Education Center, Rutgers University, leads a crew of volunteers in creating "Teamster Power/El Poder de los Teamsters." He also talks about the strike victory and the mural at a stewards' meeting and before delegates to a national Jobs with Justice convention in Chicago. The video shows Alewitz and crew working on the powerful,
exuberant mural. Picketing teamsters chant and the voice of Ron Carey
is heard rallying strikers. Alewitz describes the imagery of the mural,
which is framed by large portraits of Albert and Lucy Parsons, early heroes
of the U.S. labor movement, and features the other Haymarket martyrs,
leaders of the 1934 Minneapolis teamster strike, and a striker driven
UPS truck clutching in its jaws a bloody To order, send $20 check or money order to: June 5, Wash. DC March Against NATO . To order, send $15 check or money order to: Union Wave Radio -- Making Waves: Canadian Labour Congress Radio The Canadian labour movement went "on-air" during the Canadian Labour Congress Convention in Toronto from May 3rd to 7th, 1999. The CLC received a temporary FM radio license to broadcast
to the metro Toronto area. They were on-air (106.3 FM) with daily broadcasts
of convention speeches and debates, interviews with national and international
trade unionists, Union Wave combined old and new by transferring segments of the radio broadcasts to the CLC homepage. Using a Real Player plug in (free), users were able to download or listen to streamed audio segments. * For more information, contact Lois Ross at CLC Communications: unionwave@clc-ctc.ca Spike Lee Does the Right Thing . . . for Imperialism By Norm Dixon African-American film-maker Spike Lee, famous for his
film version of the life story of Malcolm X, retains the aura of Lee submitted a bid for, and was given, the job to direct six multimillion-dollar advertisements for the US Navy, to be screened on "youth-orientated" TV networks and in cinemas before the new Star Wars blockbuster. "I'm very grateful to be given the shot", said Lee, "because there are some backward people in the world who have a very narrow vision of who I am, of what I'm about, and what I can do." The campaign is aimed at 17 to 21-year-olds. While the Navy and Lee are reluctant to admit it, it is clear that the ads are pitched squarely at young African-Americans, who in recent years have shown less interest in fulfilling their expected role as the US military's preferred cannon fodder. The war in the Balkans has not boosted recruitment to the US military, unlike the 1991 Gulf War. Last year, the US Navy fell almost 7000 recruits short of its goal. As well as playing before this season's crop of action
movies, the ads are airing during the National Basketball Association
play-offs and will be broadcast before the Navy spokesperson Edward Brownlee told CNN: "When people ask 'Why Spike Lee?', I say 'Why not?' He's able to connect with an audience we're interested in recruiting." * - BRC-NEWS Black Radical Congress American University Offers Labor Media Course:
Matt Witt, course instructor, writes: "The course begins by looking at trends in today's workplace and economy that could be suitable for media coverage. We will look at how or if the media are covering those trends. We will read commentaries by media analysts who discuss how and why the media frame coverage certain ways on issues related to the workplace, class, and unions. We will look at some case studies, including the UPS strike of 1997 and the ongoing protests over sweatshops. To help root the discussion in real experience, we will have outside speakers from major media, as well as an analyst for FAIR, the media watchdog group. There are four books for the course, besides lots of articles and some video clips we'll look at: * "Corporate Media and the Threat to Democracy," by Robert McChesney. * "By Invitation Only" by David Croteau. * "America: Who Stole the Dream?" by Donald Barlett. * "The State of Working America," by Lawrence Mishel. It's a 6-day, all-day full-course credit graduate or undergraduate course from July 12 to July 17 at American University. The course instructor, Matt Witt, is an author and journalist whose reporting on work-related issues has won a National Magazine Award and has appeared in the Washington Post, New York Times, and other major publications and who directed the union communications campaign for the United Parcel Service strike in 1997. Anyone who has questions about the course may contact the instructor by email at mwitt@igc.org Baby Steps Dear UPPNET, This evening as part of "The AFN Citizens Programming Committee" we presented our television channel selection at the regular monthly Ashland City Council meeting. Ashland is taking on Falcon Cable Televison "head-on" and offering some old fashion economic competition. We will provide cable tv service as part of The Ashland Fiber Network plan. We each had pieces of the presentation. The last presentation
was by a member who stated how we were going to be an ongoing committee
that will seek citizen input and add/change channels as time time goes
by. She gave a list of channels we were going to be actively looking at
for future add-ons. "The Labor Channel" was one of them. Cathy Shaw, our
Mayor, laughed and commented about 24 hours of the birthing process. I
was able to respond about our vision. "This is in infancy, but baby steps
are in the works. There is a We have work to do. I want to see "The Labor Channel" as part of a future presentation to the Ashland City Council! End of story. * -Wes Brain Dozens Arrested as Pacifica Takes Over KPFA Air...
Supporter of arrested KPFA host grabbed by Berkeley cop at July 13 mass purge of KPFA employees. BERKELEY, CA, July 13, 1999 -- Dozens of protesters were arrested tonight by over 50 Berkeley police in riot gear in a massive five hour protest inside and outside KPFA. Pacifica had taken local KPFA programming off the air shortly after 6 p.m. and substituted taped programs from the archives, run by an engineer, Mark Torrres, brought in from the Pacifica Program Service in Los Angeles. The takeover operation was supervised by Pacifica Houston station manager Garland Ganter, who a year and a half ago cancelled almost all of KPFT's community programmers and installed a nearly all music format, "The Sounds of Texas." The last words heard on KPFA were those of KPFA news co-director Mark Mericle describing "Flashpoints" host Dennis Bernstein being dragged out of the studio by the armed security guards who have been inside KPFA for a month. Bernstein could be heard in the background. More than 500 people blocked both downtown Berkeley streets leading to KPFA, and several dozen, along with KPFA staff people, refused to leave the building. They were arrested (sometimes with painful arm holds used and taken to the nearby police station, where most were cited and released. [The following night, 1,000 attended a mass protest in front of the station. - Ed.] First, it is time to get our elected officials involved
in stopping Mary Frances Berry before she demolishes this federally licensed
broadcast entity any further. Please call Berkeley Congresswoman Barbara
Lee either in Washington at (202) 225-2661 or in Oakland at (510) 763-0370
and demand that she get involved immediately! KPFA's tradition of free
speech, advocacy for peace and justice, and community Mark Torres of the Pacifica Program Service is running tapes on KPFA to replace regular programmers. Call him at (818) 506-1077 Ext. 266 to express your opinion about his scab activities. Garland Ganter of KPFT has been imported to KPFA to
enforce the Berry/Chadwick takeover. Call him at (713) Very Important: Pacifica programmers have been
terrorized into silence under threat of dismissal if they discuss on the
air what Berry and Chadwick are doing. Call these stations and demand
that they talk about the ruination of their KPFK: (818) 985-5735 KPFT: (713) 526-5738 WPFW: (202) 588-0893 WBAI: (212) 209-2900 Pacifica Network News: 1-888-770-4944 ext. 323 Amy Goodman: (212) 209-2800 Help get this message out...send it especially to people you may know in Pacifica affiliate communities like Madison, Portland, Tampa. * More info: savepacifica@earthlink.net
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[FStv has asked Union Producers and Programmers
Network (UPPNET) to develop a regular labor tv series as part of the programming
for the new, proposed network. UPPNET has agreed to begin plans for this
series, and welcomes this challenge. Such a national labor television
series, available to millions, will create a rallying point for workers
to alter the corporate media environment. We urge our readers to seriously
consider responding to this appeal by FStv Program Manager Eric Galatas.]
Scene from Teamster Victory Mural
photo: Haldon SuttonJune
5 Wash D.C. demo.
Photo: John of Bright Path Video (rama@saber.net)