Re: Entercom imposes contract on AFTRA

[Dave Faneuf <tklaundry@juno.com>]

On Thu, 23 Jan 2003 23:04:19 -0500 "Dan Billings"
<billings@suscom-maine.net> writes:
> Another thought:  Consolidation has effected salaries in another way  
> --
> there are fewer places to work so employees have less negotiating 
> leverage.
> When I started in radio in the 1980s, there were about a dozen 
> different
> places to work in the Portland market.  I never had to worry about 
> pissing
> off the PD.  I knew I could leave one job and be on the air at 
> another
> station in a few days.  (One time, I actually quit my job at one 
> station and
> ended up filling in at another station that same day.)  Now there 
> are four
> different places to work in the Portland market, and only three of 
> those
> have many jobs.  If an employee leaves one of the companies on bad 
> terms,
> they have significantly limited their ability to work in the market. 
>  As a
> result, when it comes time to negotiate pay, except for a handful of 
> people
> in the market, the employee can't afford to play hard ball or 
> threaten to
> walk.
> 
> By the way: I'm not suggesting that consolidation should be undone.  
> Just
> pointing out one of the effects.
> 
> -- Dan Billings, Bowdoinham, Maine
> 

Dang, for a minute there I thought you had seen the light ;-)     
df