Unions say hola to b'casters
Only a handful of Univision, Telemundo stations are labor shops
AFTRA had been in talks for months with Telemundo on a networkwide contract until the NBC U-owned broadcaster called them off earlier this summer. Negotiations had emerged from the union's effort to target thesps on "La Ley del Silencio," an ultimately short-lived soap produced in Dallas for Telemundo by Fremantle Latin America.
There are no plans to go back to the table.
Now, in a few weeks, workers at WJAN-Channel 41 Miami, aka America TeVe, will vote on whether to join AFTRA.
A mere handful of Univision and Telemundo stations around the country are union shops -- none in Florida, a right-to-work state that's also home to Telemundo headquarters and to the Univision Television Group (its corporate HQ is in Los Angeles).
A pro-union vote would represent a very small step forward for Spanish-language TV organizing since America TeVe airs only locally, its productions, all live, narrowly targeted to South Florida's Cuban population.
Meanwhile, the number of Miami-area productions by and for the national nets has been expanding.
"The question is, is Spanish-language going to evolve to be a part of the greater media industry, which means affording these employees the same standards as their English-language counterparts, or are they going to attempt to create an environment in a place like Miami where they don't have to apply those standards to Spanish-speaking performers and broadcasters?" posits Rebecca Rhine, assistant national executive director of AFTRA.
SAG, too, wants to organize Spanish-language thesps, placing Carlina Rodriguez in Miami to spearhead its efforts, which to date appear to be focused on developing a strategy.
"Our goal is to ensure that we have a long-term impact," says SAG spokesman Seth Oster.
But even union supporters question the timing for what is still a nascent industry, and one where a yawning gap persists between audience figures and ad revenues, as compared to the big five English-language networks.
"I would love to see a strong union presence because it would mean the business has really arrived," says Raul Mateu, senior veep of the William Morris Agency, a union signatory. "But I question whether the market is ready because it is in a very fragile state right now."
AFTRA does plan to target Univision, Venevision Intl. and other players active in Miami, says Herta Suarez, the union's executive director in Miami.
But given belt-tightening at NBC, Telemundo, which has not had more than one novela in production at a given moment in Miami, might shift more production into Latin America, where costs are lower.
Although the absolute number of novelas is small, the structure of the genre (a primetime strip that airs for four to six months), boosted by other productions, has been a boon for Miami, representing a new -- and steady -- source of work compared to the unpredictable English-language TV and film location business.
An LA-based agent whose clients work on Telemundo soap productions maintains her thesps were -- and are -- treated well in terms of pay and conditions, but acknowledges, "they don't get residuals, no health care, no benefits."
