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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The State of Illinois is a major center for news
3 media; and
 
4     WHEREAS, The talent of the men and women who work in media
5 is recognized, in part, by fair pay and benefits; and
 
6     WHEREAS, Chicago is the fourth-largest Spanish language
7 media market in the country; and
 
8     WHEREAS, As a result of the rapid growth of the Latino
9 population in Illinois, Spanish language media is becoming
10 increasingly important in our State; and
 
11     WHEREAS, NBC, a subsidiary of General Electric, recognized
12 the national importance and economic strength of the Latino
13 community by its decision to purchase the Telemundo Television
14 Network and its fifteen owned and operated stations for $1.98
15 billion in 2001; and
 
16     WHEREAS, NBC owns and operates WMAQ, its English language
17 outlet, and WSNS, the Telemundo Spanish language outlet in
18 Chicago; and
 
19     WHEREAS, NBC spent more than $10 million to create a single
20 newsroom for the English-speaking and Spanish-speaking
21 journalists in its employ; and
 
22     WHEREAS, NBC should treat its new Spanish-speaking
23 employees with the same professional respect as it extends to
24 its English language employees; and
 
25     WHEREAS, NBC should provide its Spanish language
26 broadcasters with the same level of comparable wages, benefits,
27 and working conditions as its English language newspersons; and
 

 

 

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1     WHEREAS, The on-air newspersons at WSNS-TV Telemundo voted
2 for representation by the American Federation of Television and
3 Radio Artists, AFL-CIO (AFTRA) which represents more than 3,000
4 performers and broadcasters in the State of Illinois, including
5 the 43 English-speaking journalists employed by NBC's WMAQ; and
 
6     WHEREAS, This successful vote for union representation was
7 won after a hard fought campaign in which the support for the
8 Telemundo broadcasters by the WSNS viewing audience and Latino
9 community organizations throughout Chicago was critically
10 important; and
 
11     WHEREAS, NBC/Telemundo and AFTRA have been negotiating for
12 a first contract for nearly two years with little progress; and
 
13     WHEREAS, NBC/Telemundo has not offered its
14 Spanish-speaking journalists wages, benefits, and working
15 conditions comparable to the terms it provides to its
16 English-speaking journalists on WMAQ even though they share
17 work and a newsroom; and
 
18     WHEREAS, After nearly two years, it is past time for
19 NBC/Telemundo to reach an overall collective bargaining
20 agreement that is fair to the Spanish-speaking journalists who
21 appear on WSNS; therefore, be it
 
22     RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL
23 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that by adoption of this
24 resolution, the Senate of the State of Illinois urges
25 NBC/Telemundo to meet with the American Federation of
26 Television and Radio Artists and negotiate in good faith a
27 contract for WSNS-TV Telemundo broadcast journalists.