Berkeley-8 KPFA Communications Workers of America (CWA) union members (Miguel Guerrero, Bob Baldock, Aileen Alfandary, Phillip Maldari, Sasha Lilley, Kris Welch, Brian Edwards-Tiekert and Mitch Jeserich) have failed to respond to a question from this publication about union-busting activities at sister station KPFK.

Two weeks before SAG-AFTRA enters into the biggest Pacifica labor arbitration in the past 15 years with over 20 grievances filed, the KPFA 8 affixed their name to a promotional election postcard. The postcard endorsed the re-election of Margy Wilkinson, whose appointment of Leslie Radford on her last day as Pacifica’s volunteer executive director precipitated the union crisis at KPFK. A long list of grievances with Radford were laid out by SAG-AFTRA members in a letter of no confidence, signed by 27 KPFK staff members including shop steward Christine Blosdale and Uprising host Sonali Kolhatkar. Former KPFA-CWA members John Hamilton and Esther Manilla also signed the letter of no confidence alleging union busting activities. The  election postcard went on to accuse listener candidates running in opposition to Wilkinson as “defending anti-union activities of previous regimes”.

When asked point blank if they were defending the anti-union activities of the currrent regime, the KPFA 8 individually and jointly refused to respond. It is extremely unusual for union members working for the same organization to seek to undermine each other during a labor action, especially so close to the beginning of arbitration. Among the issues that will be arbitrated are:

• The withholding of $66,000 of in seniority pay
• The withholding of $25,000 in employer pension deposits
• The failure to deliver to SAG-AFTRA $15,000 in union dues already subtracted from paychecks.

The full letter of no confidence can be read here.

Local Bay Area labor activists who see the Pacifica situation quite differently than the KPFA 8 can be found here.

Pacifica’s non-union employees are not in much better shape, as Affiliates Coordinator Ursula Rudenberg, who has been with the organization for more than a dozen years, can attest. Rudenberg let loose during an affiliates committee call where she informed board members she’d been told it was probable she would no longer have health insurance after October 31st. Rudenberg referred to herself and the Affiliates program, one of Pacifica’s few remaining profit centers, as “collateral damage”. A snippet of the meeting audio can be heard here. Pacifica has since removed the audio from its online library. Board majority member Adriana Casenave can be heard focusing on ending the conversation.

The reason for Rudenberg’s probable loss of benefits seems to be the refusal of KPFK’s general manager Radford to transfer a payment of $18,000 requested as an installment towards network services payments due in April of 2015 (9 months delinquent). A series of emails between Pacifica’s controller and Radford laid out the predicament with the controller stating fairly directly:  “It is why we must insist NOW that KPFK should pay at least the 50% balance of the April Central Services of $18,414.50” and “the Pacifica National office cannot stop operating”.

The 501(c)-3 and its national board of directors do not seem at this time able to control how the network’s money is being used nor to direct funds to the most pressing obligations. Radford is on the record using KPFK donations to pay for personal security provided by her housemate.

KPFK local station board member Kim Kaufman wrote KPFK and Pacifica: A Quiet Coup for the LA Progressive. You can read the article on their site or at Pacifica in Exile. Kaufman writes: “A private “shadow” corporation was recently uncovered as a method to privatize Pacifica for the benefit of a few rather than keep it as a public benefit for the many. It appears the Shock Doctrine approach to the finances is not an accident, a mere “factional” dispute—but rather a plan by some of the board majority to gain control of the licenses and assets of the Pacifica Foundation”.

Other articles discussing the current state of Pacifica include unpaid staffer Ann Garrison’s look at why Pacifica’s news coverage doesn’t use the technical bells and whistles it should to attract premium Google placement and Adrienne Lauby’s look at “what happens when a million dollars falls on Pacifica’s head“.

Pacifica’s board elections are theoretically underway, although no one has yet reported receiving a mailed ballot. Some have received e-voting invitations, sent somewhat insecurely via general email. Pacifica in Exile’s election endorsements for all elections can be found here.

Pacifica in Exile readers may write to the board at [email protected].

For readers who may wish to do more, any donor to a California-based not for profit organization like Pacifica may file a complaint to the open file at the Registry of Charitable Trusts at the Office of the CA Attorney General. Pacifica’s case number is CT011303. The form and instructions for filing may be downloaded here.

To subscribe to this newsletter, please visit our spanking new website at www.pacificainexile.org

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Started in 1946 by conscientious objector Lew Hill, Pacifica’s storied history includes impounded program tapes for a 1954 on-air discussion of marijuana, broadcasting the Seymour Hersh revelations of the My Lai massacre, bombings by the Ku Klux Klan, going to jail rather than turning over the Patty Hearst tapes to the FBI, and Supreme Court cases including the 1984 decision that noncommercial broadcasters have the constitutional right to editorialize, and the Seven Dirty Words ruling following George Carlin’s incendiary performances on WBAI. Pacifica Foundation Radio operates noncommercial radio stations in New York, Washington, Houston, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area, and syndicates content to over 180 affiliates. It invented listener-supported radio.