YOUNGSTOWN WKBN workers OK cuts

WKBN's corporate owner needs cost cutting to pay off loans, an official says.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
YOUNGSTOWN -- Employee concessions at WKBN-TV saved 10 people from being laid off and three others from having their work hours cut.
Roland Adeszko, general manager of Channel 27 in Youngstown, said he proposed a pay cut to workers instead of layoffs at the station, which employs 95.
Its corporate parent, Gocom of Charlotte, N.C., has been forcing layoffs at other stations it owns, he said.
"It's better for a lot of us to take a little hurt so a few of us don't have to take a big hurt," he said.
Officials with Local 47 of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians Union wouldn't take the concession offer to the membership last week because they felt there still could be layoffs. After they were assured Monday that all employees would retain their jobs, they gave the offer to members, who approved it.
NABET covers about 35 photographers, reporters, directors and producers. Nonunion workers and a union representing engineers also approved the concessions Monday.
The details
NABET officials said the concessions include a 1.95 percent pay cut and the elimination of a 3 percent raise in February and raises next year for employees who haven't reached the top wage scale.
Adeszko wouldn't provide details on the station's financial situation but said the cuts weren't because of anything happening locally. Gocom wanted cost-cutting measures throughout its 13-station chain so it could make loan payments next year, he said.
"We're part of a whole, one of 13 stations. We can't afford to look at ourselves as individual stations," he said.
Gocom borrowed money to expand a couple of years ago, but economic conditions for the privately owned company have changed since then, he said.
Locally, revenue at WKBN is expected to be down next year, he said. Revenue this year was helped out because of political commercials, he said.
At Channels 45 and 49, the public broadcasting stations in Kent, seven full-time people are being laid off, leaving the stations with 30 workers. The stations said corporate and individual giving has dropped.
shilling@vindy.com