Dear Advertiser:

 

When we prosper, you prosper.  We are the NABET-CWA men and women at ABC7-WJLA/Newschannel 8, and we need your help.  Together with the CWA and The Metro Labor Council we represent over 170,000 families in this area who buy your products. We make ABC7-WJLA/Newschannel 8 the place where you choose to spend your money and do your advertising.  We work hard to make ABC7-WJLA/Newschannel 8 the place viewers turn to for news and entertainment.  All of these facts help your product sales.

 

We are in difficult labor negotiations and have been working without an agreement at ABC7-WJLA/Newschannel 8, since January 31, 2005.  The owner, Robert Allbritton, has refused to extend our contract.   Our livelihood has been threatened and there are extreme proposals to take away our working rights.  Our biggest concerns center on:

 

Ø     Wage Parity /Equal Pay for Equal Jobs !!

Ø     Fair Wage Increases

Ø     Our Right To Grieve and Arbitrate Contract Disputes

Ø     Arbitrary Layoffs with Willful Disregard of Seniority

Ø     Severe limits on Vacation Availability

Ø     Protection of Our Right to Keep Chosen Vacations

 

Our employer has a terrible track record in dealing with its workers.  Our previous contract talks lasted 7 years.   We had no wage increases, and loss of income to our 401K savings for retirement.  This amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars lost to employees of ABC7-WJLA.  All money we could not spend on your products.

 

We, the NABET-CWA represented employees of ABC7-WJLA/Newschannel 8, implore you to help us achieve simple justice in the workplace.  Please phone, write, or E-mail the sales department, and inquire as to how these negotiations could hurt your advertising dollars.  Moreover, please tell WJLA/Newschannel 8 management that you are pulling your ads off their air until they pledge to treat their workers fairly.

 

The members of ABC7-WJLA/Newschannel 8 thank you for your attention.  Please feel free to contact the NABET-CWA office at (301) 495-4999 with your questions or concerns.  Hopefully this will be the only letter we’ll need to send to ask for your support.  We really don’t want to drag you any further into our dispute if we can avoid it.  You can make a big difference in this battle for dignity in the workplace.

 

PLEASE PULL YOUR ADS OFF  

ABC7-WJLA/Newschannel 8, TODAY !!

 

Here are the company contact phone numbers and e-mail addresses:

 

Robert Allbritton, Owner,  Robert.allbritton@allbrittoncommunications.com

Fred Ryan, President, COO and Vice Chairman at (703) 236-9314,

fryan@wjla.com

Bill Lord, Vice President News at (703) 236-9300,  blord@wjla.com

Jim Church, News Manager at (703) 236-9480,  jchurch@wjla.com

 

Virginia L. Pancoe, Sales Marketing Manager, Newschannel 8 at (703) 236-9662,   

            vpancoe@news8.net

Howard Zeiden, Director of Sales & Marketing, WJLA at (703) 236-9601,

            hzeiden@wjla.com

Larry Hentz, Local Sales Manager, Newschannel 8 at (703) 236-9663, 

            lhentz@new8.net

Bob Scutari, Local Sales Manager at (703) 236-9603

Cliff McKinney, Sales Marketing Manager at (703) 236-9610

Jamie Foster, News Director, WJLA at (703) 236-9303,  jfoster@wjla.com

Holly Shannon, Assistant News Director, WJLA at (703) 236-9302, 

            hshannon@wjla.com

Alex Likowski, News Director, Newschannel 8 at (703) 236-9368,  newsfish@aol.com

 

Todd Bernstein, National Sales Manager

Steve Gibson, Sr., Vice President/CFO for Corporate

Amy Wood, General Sales, amyw@newschannel8.net

Edie Smith, Manager, Newschannel 8, Client Services