Several television stations in a handful of smaller communities in California were forced to air substitute programming this week after an employment-related strike affected its ability to produce daily newscasts.
The stations are owned by News Press & Gazette Company, where newsroom workers and other production staff are covered by a local chapter of the International Cinematographers Guild. Employees at News Press & Gazette stations in coastal Central California first voted to join the union in November 2024, and the company has been negotiating a collective bargaining agreement in the two years since.
Things came to a head this week when workers walked off the job after both sides failed to reach a firm agreement. The strike affected KEYT (Channel 3), the ABC affiliate serving the Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo communities, as well as two other stations — KCOY (Channel 12, CBS) and KKFX (Channel 11, Fox) — that have local marketing agreements with News Press & Gazette.
Union officials complain the broadcaster has made no meaningful progress toward a new collective bargaining agreements, with the dispute leading to three unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board. Those charges allege station management refused to provide information needed for bargaining, refused to bargain in good faith and unlawfully interfered with employees exercising protected rights.
“Our members have shown extraordinary patience and professionalism throughout this process,” Raquel Ruiz, a union representative for the ICG, said in a statement. “For months, they have come to the table ready to negotiate a fair first contract that recognizes the value of their work for the Central Coast community. Instead, they have faced delays, refusals to provide essential information, and conduct that undermined meaningful bargaining.”
A statement released by the station earlier this week affirmed it would air alternate programming on KEYT and the other two channels affected by the dispute. It wasn’t immediately clear how many employees were covered by the strike.
“The station remains committed to reaching a fair agreement with the union, and it disavows any suggestion that it has engaged in conduct that violates the National Labor Relations Act,” officials at KEYT said earlier this week.
News Press & Gazette has not publicly commented on the matter. The company is one of the smaller broadcast operations in the country, with slightly more than two dozen stations to its name, almost all of which are licensed to cities with fewer than one million residents.
In California, News Press & Gazette also owns or operates stations in Palm Springs and Monterey, though outlets in those areas were not affected by the labor dispute.
