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KOIN TV will layoff its master control staff in coming weeks, as the station's new corporate owners farm those jobs to a station in Indiana. That move, announced to staffers April 30, has drawn howls of outrage from the union that represents the seven workers, San Francisco-based National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians Local 51.
In messages to members, Union President Kevin WIlson has accused KOIN of dirty dealing—delaying news of the layoffs unnecessarily and offering lower-than-fair severance packages.
"Not many TV stations nationwide are controlled from somewhere else," a statement on the union's website says. "But the 7 workers at KOIN (who have more than 125 years of service to the company) were not offered jobs in other parts of the station, nor were they told the truth by the General Manager, Tim Perry who was still saying as recently as April that more work would come to KOIN and they would operate other stations from here. But the corporate decision was made last WINTER, they had NO Intention of keeping the work in Portland!"
The practice of centralizing broadcast services, known as "hubbing" or "centralcasting" is nothing new, as Perry suggested in a response to the Mercury's queries.
"Hubbing of such services has become an industry standard and should not come as a surprise to our employees and the Union," Perry wrote. He said there's no definite timeline for the layoffs.
But the bulk of the union's gripes appear to come from a perceived unnecessary delay in informing KOIN staffers about the shift. According to a memo sent out to union members, NABET officials got wind as early as March 14 that KOIN's corporate owner—Rhode Island-based LIN Media purchased the station in October—planned to "hub" the station.
The union says Perry repeatedly denied that plans existed, claiming the station "has shamelessly made repeated efforts to hide or deliberately misrepresent the company's plans, apparently under some corporate pressure and with his own job on the line."
The union also says severance offered to workers is only about half what has been offered to smaller stations in the past.
Wilson, the union president, has not responded to several requests to talk.
Perry, in an e-mail, says everything's been on the level:
Per our requirements under federal labor law, KOIN gave NABET notice of the plans to hub master control at KOIN and an opportunity to bargain over any effects resulting from the hubbing. The parties did meet with the Union to discuss hubbing and the Station offered a generous separation pack. While KOIN cannot comment on the specific details of any separation package, it was significantly more than what is required under the collective bargaining agreement between KOIN and NABET, Local 51.
