KOIN-TV’s videographers, photographers, technicians, directors and other production staff have always worked hard to bring Portland news to television screens across the city. But in recent years, the staff has had to endure more than just grueling night shifts and the typical ups and downs of the news business.

Since the giant media conglomerate Nexstar bought KOIN in 2016, the network’s unionized production staff say they have faced relentless anti-union tactics from their management, leading them into a years-long battle over their working conditions and general livelihoods. The employees say they have been working without a valid employment contract since 2017.

KOIN’s behind-the-camera production staff joined NABET-CWA Local 51 in 2003. The National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET) is a division of the Communications Workers of America (CWA). Employees and union leaders say they were able to negotiate contracts with KOIN’s previous owners, even though there were some disagreements between the two sides. But with Nexstar at the helm, the situation was different.

Although the cost of living in Portland has increased significantly since 2017, union members at KOIN reported receiving only a 1.5 percent raise in seven years. Employees have also documented derogatory comments and harassment from management, which seemed determined to undermine the union’s support among employees.

NABET-CWA Local 51 has filed many unfair labor practice complaints and charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on behalf of the KOIN union over the years. Yet each time the NLRB ruled in the union’s favor, Nexstar fought back. The fight eventually ended up in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which issued a memorandum last month enforcing the NLRB’s findings and sending Nexstar back to the bargaining table, among other things.

KOIN employees and union leaders had hoped to finally negotiate a new contract after seven years, but in the days following the court decision, Nexstar made it clear that it had no intention of complying with the ruling.

The legal dispute is the culmination of years of unrest between the KOIN union and station management that began almost immediately after Nexstar took over the station.

“I have negotiated many contracts with many companies,” says Carrie Biggs-Adams, president of NABET-CWA Local 51, to the mercury“I have never seen such a relentless human being as these people.”

Nexstar did not respond to the mercuryPlease leave a comment.

With Nexstar unwilling to cooperate with the NLRB and Ninth Circuit Court’s rulings, KOIN employees and union leaders are weighing their options. They say their working conditions have impacted the station’s performance.

“Many of us feel like we are not getting the news out there. We are understaffed and hiring all these people with no experience. Everything suffers,” says Robert Dingwall, a videographer and photographer at KOIN, the mercury“I don’t know if people at home really notice. I hope so.”

“A model of disrespect”

Nexstar is the largest owner of television stations in the United States. With 200 owned or affiliated stations, the company reaches 220 million people in 116 markets across the country. Financially, the company is doing quite well. Last year, the company reported net revenues of nearly $5 billion. In a financial report released earlier this year, Nexstar CEO Perry A. Sook spoke enthusiastically about the company’s ability to “maximize returns to shareholders.”

Meanwhile, employees at Nexstar gas stations are struggling to pay their bills. According to NABET-CWA, Sook’s current salary is 502 times the average salary of an employee at the company.

“There are days when I don’t know how I’m going to pay for my groceries without paying for everything with my credit card, which is not a healthy lifestyle,” Dingwall says. “Nexstar doesn’t want to give us a raise because they care more about their shareholders than their own employees.”

Dingwall has worked at KOIN since 2010 and says he usually enjoys his work, but things are different than they used to be.

“I’ve always loved working (at KOIN),” Dingwall says. “There’s always a great camaraderie among the people in the newsroom because you spend so much time together. And since Nexstar bought us, everyone is incredibly frustrated all the time.”

When the KOIN workers’ collective bargaining agreement expired in 2017, the union didn’t expect negotiations for a new agreement to be too difficult. But according to Biggs-Adams, the company put forward dozens of major proposals that would essentially gut the existing agreement. Nexstar wanted to reduce paid meal times, increase health care costs, reduce overtime pay and more.

According to Biggs-Adams, the union quickly realized that Nexstar was engaging in “shallow bargaining,” which is essentially negotiating to tire union members and waste time. This is a bad-faith bargaining tactic that constitutes an unfair labor practice under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

During this time, employees also reported mistreatment by management, who told them not to talk about the union or their wages and implicitly threatened to withdraw pay increases if workers did not comply. Dingwall tells the mercury Nexstar created a culture of fear in the workplace and repeatedly violated the NLRA.

“People are afraid to stand up for the union because they fear retaliation,” Dingwall says. “There’s just this pattern of disrespect and people are afraid of getting in trouble when we’re not legally allowed to do that.”

In early 2020, after several years of unsuccessful collective bargaining, Nexstar withdrew recognition from the KOIN union.

Although NABET-CWA Local 51 filed several complaints against Nexstar between 2017 and 2020, their cases did not move forward until 2021, when newly sworn-in President Biden made some important changes at the NLRB. The NLRB ruled in favor of KOIN workers against Nexstar in 2021, which the company appealed and sought the opinion of the full panel.

In July 2022, the full NLRB issued a detailed decision against Nexstar summarizing the company’s anti-union violations over the past few years. The board ordered the company to return to the bargaining table and required Nexstar to reimburse union members for wages lost during negotiations.

The NLRB’s decision was significant. It had not ordered such a remedy in the previous 30 years.

“Given the number and severity of Defendant’s violations and his history of recidivism, the panel agreed with the judge that extraordinary remedies were warranted,” the NLRB said in a summary of its July 2022 decision.

But Nexstar appealed that decision as well and took the case to a federal court, which found “substantial evidence” of labor rights violations at Nexstar.

According to Biggs-Adams, attempts to restart negotiations with Nexstar have been unsuccessful. Nexstar informed the union that it intends to file a motion for retrial in the 9th Circuit.

David Rosenfeld, a union labor attorney who works with NABET-CWA, wrote in a letter to Nexstar that the company’s “harsh response” demonstrated its “bad faith.”

“The court has issued an opinion that clearly places little value on the employer’s arguments,” Rosenfeld wrote. “In our view, any attempt to delay negotiations is frivolous and a waste of time… NABET Local 51 looks forward to the day when KOIN, under threat of contempt of court proceedings, resumes negotiations.”

What’s next?

Videographer Dingwall says KOIN employees have considered going on strike, but are scared to do so, especially because other mobilization efforts, such as petitioning advertisers for support, have been unsuccessful.

Although Nexstar has fought the union at every turn, Rosenfeld believes that will change if the company is criminally charged with refusing to negotiate. He believes the company will be forced to negotiate if it faces a contempt of court charge.

“If they do not comply with the court order and negotiate with the union, they can be charged with contempt of court,” Rosenfeld told the mercury“If they are about to be thrown in prison, they will probably try to comply.”

But reliance on the legal system has its limits. It took years for the union’s lawsuits to work their way through the NLRB and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In the meantime, KOIN union members and leaders have found different tactics to appeal Nexstar. One of those methods Biggs-Adams used was to buy stock in the company, giving the union additional leverage.

“I have enough now to be able to file shareholder proposals and go to the shareholder meeting every year,” says Biggs-Adams. “During the meeting, they have to be polite to me. They give me a minute to talk about how much I want them to go back to the bargaining table and treat their workers better. And then I say, ‘Bye, see you next year.'”