SR0061 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0061 LRB094 10544 CSA 40946 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The State of Illinois is a major center for news media; and

WHEREAS, The talent of the men and women who work in media is recognized, in part, by fair pay and benefits; and

WHEREAS, Chicago is the fourth-largest Spanish language media market in the country; and

WHEREAS, As a result of the rapid growth of the Latino population in Illinois, Spanish language media is becoming increasingly important in our State; and

WHEREAS, NBC, a subsidiary of General Electric, recognized the national importance and economic strength of the Latino community by its decision to purchase the Telemundo Television Network and its fifteen owned and operated stations for $1.98 billion in 2001; and

WHEREAS, NBC owns and operates WMAQ, its English language outlet, and WSNS, the Telemundo Spanish language outlet in Chicago; and

WHEREAS, NBC spent more than $10 million to create a single newsroom for the English-speaking and Spanish-speaking journalists in its employ; and

WHEREAS, NBC should treat its new Spanish-speaking employees with the same professional respect as it extends to its English language employees; and

WHEREAS, NBC should provide its Spanish language broadcasters with the same level of comparable wages, benefits, and working conditions as its English language newspersons; and

WHEREAS, The on-air newspersons at WSNS-TV Telemundo voted for representation by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, AFL-CIO (AFTRA) which represents more than 3,000 performers and broadcasters in the State of Illinois, including the 43 English-speaking journalists employed by NBC's WMAQ; and

WHEREAS, This successful vote for union representation was won after a hard fought campaign in which the support for the Telemundo broadcasters by the WSNS viewing audience and Latino community organizations throughout Chicago was critically important; and

WHEREAS, NBC/Telemundo and AFTRA have been negotiating for a first contract for nearly two years with little progress; and

WHEREAS, NBC/Telemundo has not offered its Spanish-speaking journalists wages, benefits, and working conditions comparable to the terms it provides to its English-speaking journalists on WMAQ even though they share work and a newsroom; and

WHEREAS, After nearly two years, it is past time for NBC/Telemundo to reach an overall collective bargaining agreement that is fair to the Spanish-speaking journalists who appear on WSNS; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that by adoption of this resolution, the Senate of the State of Illinois urges NBC/Telemundo to meet with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and negotiate in good faith a contract for WSNS-TV Telemundo broadcast journalists.