Bargaining Update

Nexstar Broadcasting

On Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found that the management of Nexstar Broadcasting committed unfair labor practices when it made unilateral changes to terms and conditions of an expired NABET-CWA collective bargaining agreement at Portland-based television station KOIN. Nexstar is the nation’s largest television station operator.

After the contract expired in September 2017, management’s changes included requiring workers to undergo annual driving history background checks and posting work schedules two weeks in advance even though past practice had been to post schedules four months in advance.

This decision, which upheld an earlier ruling by the National Labor Relations Board, is not just a win for members of NABET-CWA Local 51, but for all union members in negotiations with recalcitrant employers who deploy delaying tactics at the bargaining table.

“The company thought they could wear us down and that we wouldn’t fight back,” said NABET-CWA Local 51 President Carrie Biggs-Adams. “But they’ve underestimated our union at every turn, and the courts have sided with us yet again.”