Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/94610
and to be thoughtful and aggressive advocates with respect to the unexpected day-to-day developments in our members' ever-changing work lives." CONTRACTS 411 Broadcast contracts differ from the SAG-AFTRA contracts worked by actors and other performers. Whereas performers work off large national contracts, the broadcast contracts must be negotiated separately with each employer, with a few exceptions. SAG-AFTRA broadcast contracts also cover staff employment primarily where there is a day-to-day relationship between the member and his/her employer. "Each shop is so different and unique, and each shop has its own needs and demands and circumstances with its employees that these individual characteristics need to be taken into account when negotiating," said BSC Chair Joe Krebs, who recently retired aſter 42 years on the air, including 32 years at WRC News 4 NBC in D.C. "he salaries are different. he markets are different and the demands in that market are different." Organizing broadcast shops is not an easy task. Take NPR for example. While it is currently the largest broadcast contract under SAG-AFTRA's wing, it didn't start out that way. "I helped organize [in 1978] because we made so little money," said NPR's award-winning legal correspondent Nina Totenberg. "We were a shop that was principally women. We were less than 30 and the management at NPR didn't want to recognize us. "hey forced an election, which we won, and then they basically refused to negotiate with us. hey would sit at the 50 SAG-AFTRA | Winter 2013 | SAGAFTRA.org table and nothing would happen," she recalled. Totenberg described how the union stepped in, and through a series of meetings, tempers flying and executives leaving, that small group of 30 was able to negotiate a contract with fairly substantial raises. Today, the unit has grown to more than 400, but there are still sometimes contentious contract battles and situations where the union is needed. Like high-paid actors whose salaries go above and beyond scale, many members in SAG-AFTRA broadcast shops make above negotiated basic contract rates. Totenberg finds value in having the contract for everyone — regardless of where they fall on the pay grade. "I, like most people in SAG-AFTRA, have no desire to run NPR. And I'm sure most actors in SAG-AFTRA don't want to run the studios," she said. "It's the work that interests me. It's broadcasting the news and doing it in an interesting, accurate and professional way. But I need to make a living too. And I think it's important to have a union. "Most things I've negotiated don't directly affect me now," she said. "But I wasn't always a senior person and if you want good people to stay, then you want them to have decent salaries and fringe benefits that can be negotiated best by a group and not individuals, so they can't be played off one another. "In any large organization, people get screwed over from time to time, and you want to make sure they have protection," she added. In addition to the standard contracts covering broadcast shops, many SAG-AFTRA members also work under the terms of personal service contracts (PSCs), which are employment contracts negotiated between the individual and his/ her employer. At a SAG-AFTRA station or network, these personal contracts may only contain terms that provide for more in the way of compensation and benefits than a SAG-AFTRA agreement, including but not limited to pay and other premiums or benefits above union scale. PSCs may contain restrictive covenants, such as noncompete clauses that prevent an employee who resigns or is terminated from working in the same market for a period of time of up to two years. SAG- AFTRA also negotiates specific restrictions or limitations on these kinds of restrictive terms that make it difficult for a member to earn a living and freely advance his/her career. PSCs, however, are not required for employment and some members choose to forgo them their entire career. "I have always relied on the power of the bargaining unit to achieve a better wage and working conditions," said SAG-AFTRA National Board member "Captain" Rodger Brand, who flies above St. Louis for the local CBS affiliate and KMOX radio to report the news and traffic. "I've never had a PSC and instead have relied on the power of AFTRA — and now SAG-AFTRA — to keep me moving up the ladder." LEADING THE WAY From Murrow's See It Now first live split screen to meteorologists regularly using Chroma key compositing (aka green screen) for decades, broadcasters are oſten leading the way in technology. "Even though we're a small part of the merged union, I think we are people who are doing cutting-edge and interesting (continues) Thinkstock.com