11. Schubb: "Myth: Pacifica is engaged in 'union busting,' workers are being mistreated, and there is a 'strike' against Pacifica National News (PNN). Reality: ...Some non-union stringers...claim to be 'on strike' against Pacifica and have attacked unionized staff members.... But these stringers do not seek union representation, only editorial control over the work of others. This gross misuse of the rhetoric of union struggle..."

REAL REALITY: The list of past and present grievances, unfair labor practice charges and litigation related to wrongful terminations against Pacifica management is too long to list here, but is catalogued at www.glib.com/union.html and www.radio4all.org/fp/workers.htm.

Prior to 1995, Pacifica stations had a union contract that made management financially accountable to workers by allowing them access to the books. The contract also mandated worker approval of any organizational restructuring. Unpaid workers at WBAI and KPFA were included in the bargaining unit.

In 1995, when Pacifica management began to centralize control over programming content as well as finances, it hired a notorious union-busting firm, the American Consulting Group (ACG), to write a new contract that stripped power from workers in order to allow management to clean house of their political opponents. Management also brought a case before the National Labor Relations Board to force the exclusion of unpaid workers from the union. The management lied about its relationship with ACG when it became public, hiring the first of many PR spokespersons to deal with outraged donors. Since then it has employed a variety of attorneys to abridge the rights of workers, including, most recently, Epstein, Becker and Green, the firm of Pacifica Board member John Murdock, whose website boasts of its successes in preventing unions in the workplace.

More than forty Pacifica News stringers have organized to withdraw their labor to demand an end to censorship throughout the network and the freedom to do critical, accurate reporting about controversies within Pacifica. The strike, the withholding of labor in order to affect social policy, is one of the cornerstones of labor activism and is no way limited to the demand for a contract. Schubb's disparaging reference to the "ideologically driven" nature of the stringers' demands implies that wages and benefits are the only allowable arenas for worker activism.

Schubb's assertion reveals the goals behind the union busting at Pacifica: the destruction of any countervailing power base that could impact Pacifica policy. As the repeated incidents of political censorship we have documented demonstrate, this struggle is not about ideology versus non-ideology; rather, it is about giving a particular group of people the ability to control which ideology is disseminated by this significant media outlet.

Pacifica was founded to stand for certain principles: free discourse on controversial issues, challenging the prejudices and propaganda of the rulers, resisting war, exploitation and empire and fostering the dignity and creativity of the individual by giving her a voice. The Pacifica control group does not recognize these principles and its course has clearly aimed at their abandonment.

KPFK reporter Robin Urevich, in a 1999 article that led to her banning (and later reinstatement due to community pressure) wrote, "People who came to KPFK because they felt they'd be able to report on issues they were passionate about are mostly gone. Newsroom conversation is less about issues and more about where to find a job at the very radio and television outlets that come under so much criticism on the station's own airwaves. It's proven next to impossible to encourage news and public affairs staff to question authority outside the station while suppressing disagreement inside. The 'world of ideas' that KPFK promises in station promos is an increasingly narrow one. There is little diversity of opinion at 90.7 FM."

REAL REALITY: To get involved in the struggle to return Pacifica to its progressive roots, contact the Pacifica Campaign at www.pacificacampaign.org.

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