Update from the General Manager of KPFA 94.1FM

[zenekar]

Update from the General Manager of KPFA

I want to thank everyone who supported KPFA this past year including those who pledged
in our mini fund drive in December. In four days we raised more than $150,000.

It's been a tumultuous, exciting, and important year. From Fukushima to Arab Spring
to Occupy Wall Street and the West Coast Port shutdown, KPFA has been on it, bringing
you penetrating and insightful analysis, interviews, debate, and information not
available elsewhere.

But it's no secret that life at KPFA has been difficult these past few years and
we are not yet through the woods.

Our finances were stabilized at the end of September, but at the end of the first
quarter of our new fiscal year we find ourselves entering 2012 facing a potential
deficit once again. With no reserves to carry us through, we need to conserve,
tighten our belts and move forward recognizing that our role as an essential information
conduit and community nexus cannot be compromised, whatever our internal disagreements
may be.

KPFA hit the wall financially in 2010, and painful staff cut-backs were necessary.
This brought the identity crisis that had been bubbling beneath the surface for
a decade or more to a head, and it has not been easy to resolve.

One of the reasons we don't have a surplus is because KPFA spent more than $200,000
defending itself from grievances filed, refilled, and in one case, filed a third
time, by the Communications Workers of America on behalf of some KPFA paid staff.
Each time, the National Labor Relations Board rejected the Union's case but each
time KPFA was forced to pay legal expenses to protect itself and the Pacifica Foundation.
We need to find a better way to resolve these issues at this important time.

KPFA's management is committed to finding better ways -- and with your financial
support, we will continue to bring you the important news, culture of our time
-- and both gritty and deep analysis needed to find our way through -- as a station,
community, and world.

I encourage you to use this link [https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=vszin...3fAqQjgDcYS7EP]
to make a secure online donation to KPFA, and to be as generous as you can. If you
do so by December 31st your donation will be tax deductible in 2011.

Thanks Again and Very Best Wishes for the New Year!

Sincerely,
Andrew Leslie Phillips
General Manager (Interim)tel: 510-848-6767 ext. 203
email:[email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]

[Butterfly]

This post is helpful by providing us, in the North Bay, KPFA General Manager's appreciation for our support and participation in KPFA throughout the years. The post tells us that KPFA has provided valuable public affairs programming over this past year, as it has, over many, many years. It is also helpful by informing us of its current and recent financial difficulties, and, timely by notifying us of its need for donations now and those donations being tax deductible for 2011 tax purposes. It presents itself as a state of the station report, 2011.

However, Andrew Phillips's positive contributions to our understanding how important KPFA is, stops there. He falls far short of professional broadcast journalist standards and ethics, of which he is one, as well as KPFA General Manager (Interim).

A responsible statement requires much, much more than he offered in this letter. And he needs to start with an apology to our union sisters and brothers, especially people of color, and more-so at this time of MLK remembrance and the legacy of civil rights struggle.

The letter raises "internal disagreements", management and union relations over grievance proceedings, his announcement of a KPFA "identity crisis". To his credit, he tells us that there are better ways to resolve KPFA internal disagreements and that he is committed to finding those better ways.

Yet, the letter addresses "us", in the WACCO community as if WACCO is whole, informed, savvy to KPFA's situation, when the fact is there are hundreds of WACCO readers who are total strangers to KPFA's internal disagreements, "identity crisis" and labor - management tensions. For a professional broadcast journalist, know your audience is journalism 101. Don't make assumptions. Few have the facts, fewer still, many facts. Few are served well or at all, by Andrew's analysis — to which he is certainly entitled, not in a public letter to the listeners. And, especially egregious, now, as we are remembering MLK, shot to death as he was supporting Memphis sanitation union workers on strike.

In the political climate we live in today, unions, which cover less than a two digit percentage of the US workforce are facing vicious attacks designed to thoroughly eviscerate them: already done in the private sector workforce, now at the jugular of the public sector workforce.

Andrew's public state of the station, 2011 letter just sucker punched the 99%. He can't say he's on the side of the 99% when he attacks the station's union in public. His disagreements with CWA belong in the union grievance hearings, not in public spaces, not in the totally irresponsible way he presented this topic in this letter.

Ask him to revisit KPFA listeners with a proper and professional journalist's letter on the state of the station, 2011. Ask him to start with an apology for attacking KPFA's union in public. Divide and conquer, that's their game plan; we are not about that. We honor MLK Day remembering his vision; we are called to live the dream.

[zenekar]

This post is helpful by providing us, in the North Bay, KPFA General Manager's appreciation for our support and participation in KPFA throughout the years. The post tells us that KPFA has provided valuable public affairs programming over this past year, as it has, over many, many years. It is also helpful by informing us of its current and recent financial difficulties, and, timely by notifying us of its need for donations now and those donations being tax deductible for 2011 tax purposes. It presents itself as a state of the station report, 2011.....

Dear Butterfly,


Where do you get the idea that Andrew attacked union workers? Did you not read this:
Each time, the National Labor Relations Board rejected the Union's case but each time KPFA was forced to pay legal expenses to protect itself and the Pacifica Foundation. We need to find a better way to resolve these issues at this important time.


It's not that difficult to understand. It means that the grievances filed with the Union by the Morning Show hosts were bogus and the National Labor Relations Board threw the cases out. There is no attack on the Union by management at KPFA.


There is an ongoing attack by some entrenched staff who think the station belongs to them. You're right in that there is much more than what a simple letter can state. So, please do some research. Maybe start here: https://www.voteindyradio.org/node/13


Attila Nagy
Former KPFA Local Station Board member

[Barrie]

Butterfly, thank you for responding to the Andrew Phillips letter. For those of us who have listened to KPFA for many, many years and especially appreciated The Morning Show and the generally high quality of professional and volunteer programming at the station, the current problems at the station are scary and discouraging. It seems like Pacifica is determined to self destruct. I deeply resent that Pacifica is spending money that I donate, along with other listeners, to hire very expensive union busting attorneys to get rid of my favorite programmers. I have been to 3 KPFA board meetings and see a very disfunctional interaction. Tracy Rosenberg and her supporters seem willing to destroy the whole Pacifica network rather than admit that they have made mistakes. I hope that KPFA and Pacifica survive. Some of the people who attack my point of view here on WaccoBB admit that they never listened to The Morning Show, that they don't get up that early. So of course they don't care that this extremely popular program has been removed. We need to stay strong, support the station, and hope that by following the proper procedures, this problem will be resolved.

This post is helpful by providing us, in the North Bay, KPFA General Manager's appreciation for our support and participation in KPFA throughout the years. The post tells us that KPFA has provided valuable public affairs programming over this past year, as it has, over many, many years. It is also helpful by informing us of its current and recent financial difficulties, and, timely by notifying us of its need for donations now and those donations being tax deductible for 2011 tax purposes. It presents itself as a state of the station report, 2011.

However, Andrew Phillips's positive contributions to our understanding how important KPFA is, stops there. He falls far short of professional broadcast journalist standards and ethics, of which he is one, as well as KPFA General Manager (Interim).

A responsible statement requires much, much more than he offered in this letter. And he needs to start with an apology to our union sisters and brothers, especially people of color, and more-so at this time of MLK remembrance and the legacy of civil rights struggle.

The letter raises "internal disagreements", management and union relations over grievance proceedings, his announcement of a KPFA "identity crisis". To his credit, he tells us that there are better ways to resolve KPFA internal disagreements and that he is committed to finding those better ways.

Yet, the letter addresses "us", in the WACCO community as if WACCO is whole, informed, savvy to KPFA's situation, when the fact is there are hundreds of WACCO readers who are total strangers to KPFA's internal disagreements, "identity crisis" and labor - management tensions. For a professional broadcast journalist, know your audience is journalism 101. Don't make assumptions. Few have the facts, fewer still, many facts. Few are served well or at all, by Andrew's analysis — to which he is certainly entitled, not in a public letter to the listeners. And, especially egregious, now, as we are remembering MLK, shot to death as he was supporting Memphis sanitation union workers on strike.

In the political climate we live in today, unions, which cover less than a two digit percentage of the US workforce are facing vicious attacks designed to thoroughly eviscerate them: already done in the private sector workforce, now at the jugular of the public sector workforce.

Andrew's public state of the station, 2011 letter just sucker punched the 99%. He can't say he's on the side of the 99% when he attacks the station's union in public. His disagreements with CWA belong in the union grievance hearings, not in public spaces, not in the totally irresponsible way he presented this topic in this letter.

Ask him to revisit KPFA listeners with a proper and professional journalist's letter on the state of the station, 2011. Ask him to start with an apology for attacking KPFA's union in public. Divide and conquer, that's their game plan; we are not about that. We honor MLK Day remembering his vision; we are called to live the dream.

["Mad" Miles]

Barrie,

As a desperate cost saving move to prevent total financial collapse, management at Pacifica and the KPFA Station Manager, following the labor contracts, laid off staff, based on seniority. As the contract required.

A faction calling itself "SafeKPFA", key members of which were directly responsible for the financial dysfunction and plunging income / rising costs at KPFA and partially responsible for similar problems at Pacifica, raised a stink, hammered their point home on the air (which management and their supporters refrained from doing, since it was a total violation of station policy and common community radio practice, also a violation of Professional Radio practices, of not holding private faction fights as a part of on air programming) and some of the laid off staff sued the management via the NLRB.

Those "workers" whose supposed rights were "violated", had no case. But to prove that, the station management, and the stations donors, had to pay some $200,000.00 in legal costs. So, who, exactly, is responsible for hiring "expensive union busting attorneys"? Management? Or the aggrieved staff with no case who went ahead in spite of that?

You and other supporters were sold a mess of pottage, by the on air bleatings, screams and lies from the faction in the "Station Wars" most responsible for the dysfunction you decry. And you've signed on to their cause and will not deviate in spite of the ample documentation and accounts from others not in the "SaveKPFA/KPFAWorkers" kamikazi faction.

For everyone not clear on the history, bear in mind that "SaveKPFA" in the last three to five years, is not the same group, that fought the lack of democracy and a potential corporate takeover back in '99-'03. Although they've represented themselves as if they were.

By the way, Barrie, if you're referring to me as one of the supporters of rationality and fiscal sanity at KPFA/Pacifica who, "never listened to the Morning Show", I have. When I commuted in Santa Rosa as a school teacher, ''04-'06, I listened regularly. It was a fine show.

But sacrifices had to be made, to save the entire station, perhaps the entire network. All of the numbers, the financial ones, demonstrate this. And any neutral interested observer, who watched events unfold for the last fifteen years, already knows this. And knew it at the time "SaveKPFA" starting shouting foul.

Due to management efforts in the last three years, things have started to turn around, financially. A big hole in that turn around, being legal expenses incurred in defending against specious charges of contract violation and management "oppressing" labor.

The other big hole is the ill will, disgust, and frustrated loss of enthusiasm for the entire project, resulting directly from an internal campaign made public to control and dominate the stations programming. Taking place in the middle of the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression. Disposable income down, charitable donations plummeting since '08, and a messy public fight over "democracy, labor rights and community control" sure does not help.

Not to mention the siphoning of donations to a group which has no intention of turning them over to pay for station operations, even though donors thought they were contributing to a campaign to "Save KPFA".

Course, proving that in court, would probably eat up more funds, and be easily spun to make management look bad, than anything that could be recovered in detoured donations.

Still, how do people think that expensive postcard pushing the recall of Tracy Rosenberg, got paid for?

I'm a militant labor supporter and sometime activist. A member of the most radical union in American history. And I can tell you and anyone interested, the labor violation charges were bogus.

The claims of mis-management by the new management (hired to deal with a fiscal crisis) are bogus.

But if you only listen to the claims of one side in a faction fight, one might think there is a problem caused by heavy handed managers. If you pay attention to all the sides, not just the one that has collected money to "SaveKPFA" and send out expensive recall election postcards, who were the ones, a year ago plus. who trumpeted their rallying cry and litany of grievances, for months on end ON THE AIR, while new management struggled to deal with them behind the scenes and via established email networks and website, but NOT ON THE AIR on a regular and amplified basis, well you're getting an extremely biased and outrageous version of events.

A story that does not hold up on examination of all the accounts available. Theirs, management, counter-factions and neutral observers.

Good luck getting the, "never say die, we'll pull this whole thing down with us, if we don't get our way", faction to ever, in the slightest, admit theirs is not the only truth, and they might have "contributed" to the problem. It ain't gonna happen.

For those willing to take the time to examine the record, as documented from all sides, (it's a whole LOT of reading folks, for those who have not been keeping up) well making that effort speaks for itself.

I'm only summarizing what I know from having done that reading, listening and watching (meeting minutes and videos of LAB and Pacifica meetings. It's interesting to see representatives of an organization dedicated to Peace, acting like thugs in a meeting. As a Leftie with years of experience in these matters, it's no surprise. Using personal threats and challenges to physical violence, is SOP among certain Hard Left types. No matter what rhetoric they use in public about Peace, Justice and Democracy.)

The links to those sites, the ones with the alternative accounts than the one broadcast by "Save KPFA/KPFA Worker" have been provided by me and others, in previous discussions here. The search engine on this site, works pretty well. Although it often requires more scrolling through thread titles than I find convenient. But I've done it for you!

https://www.waccobb.net/forums/showt...ight=Save+KPFA

[zenekar]

Butterfly, thank you for responding to the Andrew Phillips letter. For those of us who have listened to KPFA for many, many years and especially appreciated The Morning Show and the generally high quality of professional and volunteer programming at the station, the current problems at the station are scary and discouraging. It seems like Pacifica is determined to self destruct. I deeply resent that Pacifica is spending money that I donate, along with other listeners, to hire very expensive union busting attorneys to get rid of my favorite programmers. I have been to 3 KPFA board meetings and see a very disfunctional interaction. Tracy Rosenberg and her supporters seem willing to destroy the whole Pacifica network rather than admit that they have made mistakes. I hope that KPFA and Pacifica survive. Some of the people who attack my point of view here on WaccoBB admit that they never listened to The Morning Show, that they don't get up that early. So of course they don't care that this extremely popular program has been removed. We need to stay strong, support the station, and hope that by following the proper procedures, this problem will be resolved.

Barrie,

You are reapeating misinformation put out by Brian Edwards-Tiekert and others on the "KPFA Worker" website (which does not represent the views of the majority of workers at KPFA) and "Save KPFA" site (no relation to the original Save KPFA group of the 90s).

Consider these facts:

The crisis that KPFA faced in the fall of 2010 was insolvency.
by Akio Tanaka, KPFA Local Station Board


Between 2001 and 2006, there was a dramatic increase in listener support due to the expanding economy and interest in the Iraq-Afghan War. KPFA added many paid staff during this same period; however, between 2007 and 2010 listener support declined dramatically as the whole economy crashed.

Payments to Pacifica were reduced to reflect the decline in listener support and Pacifica had major layoffs, but KPFA management did not make similar cuts to salaries and benefits even as listener support declined between 2007 and 2010. It is understandable that the previous management would be reluctant to lay people off, but in 2008 the station went into deficit spending and was in danger of bankruptcy. So, finally the Pacifica Foundation, which is fiscally responsible for the network of five stations, stepped in and made cuts in staffing.


Instead of acknowledging that Pacifica had carried out the thankless but necessary task of cutting expenses, some of the paid staff affiliated with the Communication Workers of America (CWA) claimed that layoffs were not necessary and that there had been union busting on the part of Pacifica. They alarmed many paid staff by claiming there was a political hit list of people to be laid off. The ‘hit list’ was the union seniority list.
What Pacifica actually did was to offer voluntary severance to all employees. Seven people took the deal, and in the end, two people were laid off, Aimee Allison and Brian Edwards-Tiekert. Edwards-Tiekert had the option to exercise his seniority bumping rights.


The layoffs followed the union contract which says: “In cases where skill, ability, knowledge and job performance are all equal, or could be equal in the opinion of the Employer after reasonable orientation and training, seniority shall prevail”, but CWA claimed the layoffs violated the terms of the union contract and filed three grievances with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and asked for an arbiter to rule on reinstating Edwards-Tiekert and Allison to the Morning Show. These claims led many labor supporters to voice solidarity with the CWA.


Over the next several months, two anonymous websites, SaveKPFA and KPFAworker, waged a campaign to vilify Pacifica Executive Director, Arlene Engelhardt.


In February, Edwards-Tiekert exercised his bumping rights and returned as a P/T news reporter. In April, the NLRB issued an advice memo dismissing one of the three CWA grievances and CWA then withdrew the two remaining grievances. In July, the arbiter ruled against Allison’s reinstatement.


Pacifica was vindicated on all counts associated with or having to do with labor issues.


KPFA has a solid line-up of Al-Jazeera English at 6am, Democracy Now! at the prime commute time of 7am, and Morning Mix at 8am, hosted by both volunteers and staff who stepped up to help the station during these financially difficult times.


However, the people who tried to vilify Arlene Engelhardt are now trying to recall Tracy Rosenberg from the local station board.

Rosenberg saw that KPFA was on a path to a fiscal train wreck and carried out her fiduciary duty as a member of the National Finance Committee in trying to save both KPFA and Pacifica from financial ruin. She also tried to help publicize the new Morning Mix show. Both actions served the interest of KPFA and the Foundation.


It is understandable that with the political division KPFA has experienced over the past several years that any layoff produces controversy, but we should all remember that the ideals and goals we share are far stronger than our differences. And the people need KPFA and Pacifica more than ever before.


Arlene Engelhardt and Tracy Rosenberg both helped save KPFA.

We can all save KPFA together by each of us making a generous donation and working together. Make a donation. Become a new member.

[Butterfly]

I do appreciate some commentary from each who have replied: thank you!

On Zenekar's suggestion, I researched some, on democracy and free speech KPFA radio. I offer KPFA music programmer, Robbie Osman's wisdom on broader issues given light treatment in KPFA General Manager Andrew Phillips' unfortunate, short sale, anti-solidarity missive, an apparent state of the station letter, 2011, posted on WACCO a few days ago. [ Robbie's "The Value of Democracy" — https://www.robbie.org ]

Just one more thing: it seems to me that within WACCO, we [all who have given gratitude and replies, plus others] would do each other great service to attend the next Occupy Town Hall and create a unity statement there, as break-out groups did at this last Occupy Town Hall.

Maybe, "How can Occupy support and contribute to alternative media outlets, e.g., KPFA and KBBF, and utilize main stream media to advance Occupy values and General Assembly decisions?"

Here, below, is an excerpt from Robbie Osman's The Value of Democracy (2010):

" ... I hope we can agree on some axioms:

• KPFA ought to be mission driven. Our core purpose is to promote peace and justice (to put it in shorthand). And we need to structure station decision-making in a way that best serves that aim.
• Interested parties cannot be expected to make disinterested decisions. We are people, we are good people, but we are not saints or heroes and ought not be expected (or trusted) to act against our own egos and interests.
• Guaranteed lifetime tenure and accountability are not compatible.
• There is no effective review where there is no possibility to make changes...."

[Dixon]

Butterfly, it's certainly true that the General Manager's update cites the legal actions carried out by the union on behalf of certain self-serving KPFA staffers as a source of financial and other problems at KPFA and Pacifica, and he doesn't give "journalistic balance" by presenting the case of the so-called "Save KPFA" gang. But there are a couple of good reasons for that:

1) The "Save KPFA" contingent doesn't really have a case to present. That's what's been repeatedly found by the National Labor Relations Board, at great expense to those of us who support KPFA with our dollars. Their purported "case" has been mostly a bunch of lies and distortions aimed at suckering people into supporting the agenda of staff insiders like Brian Edwards-Tiekert and others who are undermining democratic control of station programming so they can have their way (i.e. keep their positions or programs) regardless of what is good for, or desired by, the KPFA community. When the Brian E-T bunch were grossly violating journalistic principles by publicly and one-sidedly airing their grievances on their radio shows again and again, station management held the journalistic integrity line by not fighting back publicly. Finally a manager mentions the problem and very briefly represents the other side of the issue, and you attack him for it. Did you attack Brian E-T and company when they were repeatedly inappropriately spewing their vitriol over the airwaves? If the General Manager can't briefly mention the other side of the story in a letter to the public, how can that side be publicized? You can be damn sure that the so-called "Save KPFA" bunch aren't providing both sides of the issue in their on-air and online screeds. Have you attacked them for that yet?

2) Stating the fact that large amounts of money have been wasted defending the station from frivolous legal actions is true, relevant, and important enough to include in an update addressed to the community. Simply stating those facts doesn't make the "Save KPFA" contingent look good for a simple reason: The truth doesn't make them look good, because they haven't been behaving honorably. And mentioning that these bogus claims have been brought to court by the union is not anti-union; it's just a statement of fact. Perhaps the union is contractually obligated to represent its members in court on such issues whether or not the members have a valid gripe, or maybe the union made a bad choice to align itself with these self-serving entrenched staffers, I don't know. But there's nothing wrong, and nothing anti-union, in Phillips's mentioning the relevant facts in an update.

One more thing: You encouraged us all to read Robbie Osman's piece, and I did. I'm not sure you realize that he very convincingly demolishes the "Save KPFA" position and implicitly supports the concerns Phillips mentions in the remarks you attack Phillips for, LOL!

[zenekar]

I do appreciate some commentary from each who have replied: thank you!

On Zenekar's suggestion, I researched some, on democracy and free speech KPFA radio. I offer KPFA music programmer, Robbie Osman's wisdom on broader issues given light treatment in KPFA General Manager Andrew Phillips' unfortunate, short sale, anti-solidarity missive, an apparent state of the station letter, 2011, posted on WACCO a few days ago. [ Robbie's "The Value of Democracy" — https://www.robbie.org ]

Just one more thing: it seems to me that within WACCO, we [all who have given gratitude and replies, plus others] would do each other great service to attend the next Occupy Town Hall and create a unity statement there, as break-out groups did at this last Occupy Town Hall.

Maybe, "How can Occupy support and contribute to alternative media outlets, e.g., KPFA and KBBF, and utilize main stream media to advance Occupy values and General Assembly decisions?"

Here, below, is an excerpt from Robbie Osman's The Value of Democracy (2010):

" ... I hope we can agree on some axioms:

• KPFA ought to be mission driven. Our core purpose is to promote peace and justice (to put it in shorthand). And we need to structure station decision-making in a way that best serves that aim.
• Interested parties cannot be expected to make disinterested decisions. We are people, we are good people, but we are not saints or heroes and ought not be expected (or trusted) to act against our own egos and interests.
• Guaranteed lifetime tenure and accountability are not compatible.
• There is no effective review where there is no possibility to make changes...."

Butterfly,

I'm glad you acnowledge the wisdom in Robbie's words. It was at his home where we had strategy sessions about how to stop the entrenched cabal -- primarily the News Dept. and the Morning Show staff -- from keeping community involvement out of the station. We ran several candidates, including myself, in the LSB election and won a majority on the Board in 2003. Brian E-T was also on the LSB at the time and a major proponent of the entrenched. At one point he wrote an email to his allies, which came to be exposed to the public, stating that the LSB should be dismantled. Since then, the cabal had prevailed and ran the station into a serious defecit. Andrew Phillips has been doing his best to dig the station out of the hole. That is the state of the station that he is reporting on.

["Mad" Miles]

I just received the following forwarded email via one of my political listservs, [email protected]. I was already aware of all the points he makes, except for his correction of his quote for legal expenses defending against bogus labor complaints. It's $80K, not $200K. Good news in a sort of sad way.

With regard to BET, I have it on fairly good authority, that I cannot cite, that he's a Trustista.

Miles


Subj: Nbay4kpfa / Andrew Phillips' Statement in KPFA newsletter concerning a recall election of Tracy Rosenburg


From the General Manager (Andrew Phillips):

I have received many questions about a postcard many of you received in the mail concerning a recall election of a KPFA/Pacifica board member.

KPFA/Pacifica is required by law to allow our members to communicate with other members by mailre garding issues relevant to your "legitimate interests" as a member. To protect your privacy,those mounting the recall challenge were, therefore, permitted to send their postcard through a mailing house, but were not given your mailing address.

KPFA/Pacifica is prohibited by California law from previewing, editing, censoring or pre-approving the text of the material sent to you by those mounting the recall challenge.

KPFA/Pacifica management is not permitted under Pacifica's Bylaws to endorse or advocate for or against any candidate for election to our boards, or to permit any staff member to do so on our airwaves.

KPFA management is permitted, however, to correct factual misstatements concerning KPFA/Pacifica.

KPFA management wishes to clarify the following facts:

1) KPFA's financial position has improved significantly over the past year since the cancellation of the former Morning Show. In the fiscal year ending 9/30/10 KPFA lost $587k; in fiscal year ending 9/30/11 KPFA lost about 37k. Read more here about KPFA's financial recovery.

2) At binding arbitration under the CWA union contract, the arbitrator ruled that the layoff of Aimee Allison was due to economic necessity and not "retaliatory" or a breach of the CWA contract.Brian Edwards-Tiekert exercised his right to "bump" a less senior staff member, rather than take his layoff to arbitration.

3) The National Labor Relations Board ruled in response to a CWA grievance that consulting with board members concerning layoffs is the right of management and not "tortious interference" with KPFA's union contract.

4) No "theft" or "misappropriation" of KPFA members' personal email addresses has occurred. About a year ago, an email promoting the new Morning Mix program and raising funds directly for KPFA was sent by a Pacifica Director from an outside email server at the request of KPFA staff members.

5) No "election fraud" has occurred. A year ago the Pacifica Natiional Board determined that under Pacifica Bylaws prohibitions against "public office holders" and "political appointees"serving on Pacifica's boards, Dan Siegel's acceptance of appointments to advisory positions in the Mayor of Oakland's administration disqualified him from the KPFA LSB and PNB. Siegel and several KPFA LSB members took the matter to court. On December 29th the court ruled that Pacifica's bylaws prohibitions should be narrowly construed to only apply to holders of "public office" as defined by California case law, and therefore that Siegel's political appointments do not disqualify him from Pacifica's boards. An appeal of this decision may be taken in order to preserve Pacifica's bylaws protections against undue political influence and conflicts of interest on our local and national boards.

In addition, in my email to you on December 26th, I mistakenly stated that KPFA had spent more than $200k defending itself from the various grievances filed by CWA. That figure was incorrect.The actual figure is closer to $80k. That's still a lot of money I wish we could have spent on something else.

And, finally, I do not know when the recall ballots will be mailed. That is in the hands of the Pacifica National Board. I am informed that they are looking for, but have not been able to locate,an independent neutral election supervisor willing to take the job who is acceptable to all parties. If you are interested in the job, please a send letter of interest & your qualifications to the Pacifica National Board Chair, Summer Reese, at[email protected].

I personally find these disputes draining and demoralizing, and I believe I speak for many KPFA staff and listeners in saying so.

Sincerely,
Andrew Leslie Phillips

General Manager (Interim)
tel: 510-848-6767 ext. 203
email:[email protected]

[Barrie]

Butterfly, it's certainly true that the General Manager's update cites the legal actions carried out by the union on behalf of certain self-serving KPFA staffers as a source of financial and other problems at KPFA and Pacifica, and he doesn't give "journalistic balance" by presenting the case of the so-called "Save KPFA" gang. But there are a couple of good reasons for that:

1) The "Save KPFA" contingent doesn't really have a case to present. That's what's been repeatedly found by the National Labor Relations Board, at great expense to those of us who support KPFA with our dollars. Their purported "case" has been mostly a bunch of lies and distortions aimed at suckering people into supporting the agenda of staff insiders like Brian Edwards-Tiekert and others who are undermining democratic control of station programming so they can have their way (i.e. keep their positions or programs) regardless of what is good for, or desired by, the KPFA community. When the Brian E-T bunch were grossly violating journalistic principles by publicly and one-sidedly airing their grievances on their radio shows again and again, station management held the journalistic integrity line by not fighting back publicly. Finally a manager mentions the problem and very briefly represents the other side of the issue, and you attack him for it. Did you attack Brian E-T and company when they were repeatedly inappropriately spewing their vitriol over the airwaves? If the General Manager can't briefly mention the other side of the story in a letter to the public, how can that side be publicized? You can be damn sure that the so-called "Save KPFA" bunch aren't providing both sides of the issue in their on-air and online screeds. Have you attacked them for that yet?

(Barrie responds)

I was a regular listener to the Morning Show when Brian E-T was one of the hosts. I didn't hear him discussing the situation at KPFA, it was not allowed. There were specific times set aside to discuss station politics, but it wasn't done during non-specified times. Did you listen to the Morning Show? I did on a regular basis and did not hear any on air screeds. Where are you getting your information about the legal cases? When the station hit hard times during the earlier part of the recession some people where laid off. Some were given the choice to work part time, etc. They were laid off in order of senority. Then Brian E-T, Aimee Allison, and John Hamilton were laided off, again supposedly for financial reasons. The union took up their battle and found that Brian and John had been laid off out of order with the union contract, which is legally binding, so Arlene etc. were forced to take them back. Aimee was a more recent hire so didn't have the seniority to keep her job. If you go to the SaveKPFA web site you might see a video of the judge scolding Arlene Englehardt for the illegal behavior. Pacifica also said that two board members were serving against KPFA/Pacifica rules. These were taken to court, the court found that they were not breaking any rules and have been reinstated. Pacifica is actually loosing most of the cases that go to court. Where are you getting your information?

2) Stating the fact that large amounts of money have been wasted defending the station from frivolous legal actions is true, relevant, and important enough to include in an update addressed to the community. Simply stating those facts doesn't make the "Save KPFA" contingent look good for a simple reason: The truth doesn't make them look good, because they haven't been behaving honorably. And mentioning that these bogus claims have been brought to court by the union is not anti-union; it's just a statement of fact. Perhaps the union is contractually obligated to represent its members in court on such issues whether or not the members have a valid gripe, or maybe the union made a bad choice to align itself with these self-serving entrenched staffers, I don't know. But there's nothing wrong, and nothing anti-union, in Phillips's mentioning the relevant facts in an update.

(Barrie responds)

The Morning Show was cancelled, allegedly for financial reasons. SaveKPFA supporting listeners donated enough money, maybe $68K?, to cover all Morning Show expenses for the rest of the year. I was at the board meeting when the check was delivered by literally dozens of listeners. Pacifica took the check then said SaveKPFA was using dirty tricks by raising this money. Their problem with Aimee, Brian, and John H. is that they spoke up against what Arlene E. and Tracy Rosenberg and her contingent have been doing to KPFA. One thing they have been doing most recently is taking money out of staff retirement accounts and using it for other purposes. This is illegal, as in AGAINST THE LAW.

At the meeting where we delivered the check, three listeners were there to speak in support of Arlene, Tracy, etc. One described herself as a mental patient, and the other two sounded like mental patients. Dixon, you need to dig a little deeper in your research. You talk about what was on the air at times when you weren't listening & I was. I use my eyes, ears, my own judgement. I've been to 3 board meetings, have talked to people active on both sides. What is your investment in this situation? I know you like a good argument.

Barrie

One more thing: You encouraged us all to read Robbie Osman's piece, and I did. I'm not sure you realize that he very convincingly demolishes the "Save KPFA" position and implicitly supports the concerns Phillips mentions in the remarks you attack Phillips for, LOL!

OK