Press release: Unionized workers at ABC6/WLNE-TV ask for ‘messaging flood’ from community
Inform management that you support the individuals who make the news you watch, so they can afford to live in the community they report on.
From a press release:
The newsroom union at ABC6/WLNE-TV in Providence has been bargaining since November 2024 to secure a living wage for its members. However, management and the station’s owners have refused every offer brought to the table, and their counteroffers would be well below a livable wage for someone renting or paying a mortgage in the Providence area, especially while paying student loans and health insurance bills.
Representatives for Standard Media Group have pushed back on all suggestions aimed at improving the newsroom’s performance and retaining employees. Management has made it blatantly clear that they do not care about the news as a product, are fine with turnover, and have no problem with being the fourth-place station in a market of four.
When presented with a wage and benefit proposal that would present both a fair benefits package and a raise scale that would keep up with inflation, the representatives from management said that a last-place station “cannot afford” to pay employees enough to retain them. They suggested that those who cannot afford to live in or around Providence should consider relocating and commuting. When a member of a bargaining committee informed them that simply moving farther away would not help offset the lack of raises and rising inflation, they were told that the newsroom would not be suitable for a person who could not afford to work there.
Management has stopped listening to the union at the bargaining table, so the unit is calling on the community to have their voices heard instead.
Friends of our cause can visit this page or email news@abc6.com with words of support for the union. Inform management that you support the individuals who make the news you watch, so they can afford to live in the community they report on. Sharing experiences with unions that have helped you, or how a raise has changed your life, would also be appreciated.
Members of NABET-CWA Local 18 thank the community for its support and want management to see what that support looks like
