Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1512402
18 SAG-AFTRA | Fall/Winter 2023 | sagaftra.org Broadcast News KCRW Achieves Contract O n the evening of Aug. 7, the KCRW Santa Monica bargaining team reached a three-year agreement with management, its second union contract since joining SAG-AFTRA in 2019. Contract bargaining began on May 1 and took place over 12 sessions on Zoom. The contract includes new salary minimums for employees, as well as scale increases and general percentage increases, additional bereavement leave, and expanded language on safety and health, remote work, and diversity, equity and inclusion. Additionally, the contract expands the Labor-Management Committee, with specific tasks for the committee, including an annual safety walk-through and annual benefits survey. SAG-AFTRA Hits the Journalism Conference Circuit T hroughout the summer of 2023, the SAG-AFTRA news and broadcast team, in partnership with the SAG-AFTRA equity and inclusion team, participated in journalism conferences across the country. These annual conferences are wonderful opportunities for SAG-AFTRA members and staff to connect, collaborate and exchange knowledge with the journalism community. SAG-AFTRA kicked off the summer by hosting an expo booth and a networking reception at the National Association of Hispanic Journalists conference in Miami in July. Also in July, SAG-AFTRA attended the Asian American Journalists Association conference in Washington, D.C., where members led a panel titled Navigating a Career in Broadcast. In August, SAG-AFTRA attended the National Association of Black Journalists conference in Birmingham, Alabama, sponsoring a booth and a panel. Members and staff led a discussion titled Navigating Career Decisions, Negotiating Employment Contracts & Addressing Workplace Concerns: A Forum for Personal and Professional Advocacy. To round out the summer, SAG-AFTRA went to Philadelphia for the NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists conference in September, sponsoring an expo booth and a panel titled The Eroding Fourth Estate? Rebuilding Public Trust in Journalism. The news and broadcast team is looking forward to attending more journalism conferences in 2024, including those of the NLGJA and NAHJ in Los Angeles, and NABJ in Chicago. Above, from left, NABJ panelists Danya Bacchus of CBS News; SAG-AFTRA Executive Director, Labor Counsel Rich Larkin; Fox Detroit's Josh Landon; SAG-AFTRA Vice President, Broadcasters Bob Butler, who served as moderator; and SAG-AFTRA Chief Broadcast Officer Mary Cavallaro on Aug. 4. Right, SAG-AFTRA members Anar Virji of Al Jazeera English, Joy Wang of WJLA-TV and Lauren Migaki of NPR lead the Navigating a Career in Broadcast panel at AAJA on July 21.