Full Text of HR0172 94th General Assembly
HR0172 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
|
|
|
HR0172 |
|
LRB094 11506 HSS 42465 r |
|
| 1 |
| HOUSE 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
|
|
|
|
HR0172 |
- 2 - |
LRB094 11506 HSS 42465 r |
|
| 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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 23 |
| NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 24 |
| by adoption of this resolution, the House of Representatives of | 25 |
| the State of Illinois urges NBC/Telemundo to meet with the | 26 |
| American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and | 27 |
| negotiate in good faith a contract for WSNS-TV Telemundo | 28 |
| broadcast journalists.
|
|