AFL-CIO invites MSNBC hosts to meet with unhappy NBC workers

By DYLAN BYERS

12/18/13 10:28 AM EST

The AFL-CIO sent a letter to Rachel Maddow, Ed Schultz and other top MSNBC hosts on Wednesday requesting that they meet with NBC production workers who have spent more than a year trying to form a union.

The letter, signed by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and other members of the executive council, comes as workers at Peacock Productions have protested what they say is union busting by the liberal cable network.

"Since July 2012, producers and associate producers have worked with the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) in order to organize a union and bargain with Peacock Productions. They have expressed real concern about access to affordable health insurance, declining pay rates, long hours and an overall feeling of job insecurity among even the most talented and qualified," Trumka, et al., write in the letter.

"Today those workers do not have a voice on the job to express their concerns," they continue.

"Unfortunately, Peacock has not acted in good faith, as its parent company NBC has in the past. Instead, Peacock has fought against its workers’ rights, jeopardizing the livelihoods of the workers."

Last week, MSNBC host Chris Hayes met privately with Peacock workers after the AFL-CIO posted a petition to MoveOn.org Civic Action asking him, Maddow, Schultz, Al Sharpton and Lawrence O'Donnell to “please meet with these workers and take a public stand to support their right to organize."

Only Hayes attended the meeting. In an email to Salon regarding the MoveOn.org petition, Schultz wrote that Moveon.org "has never been an ally of Ed Schultz." Maddow, Sharpton and O'Donnell did not comment.

The labor dispute is especially significant for Schultz, given that he has frequently championed unions on his MSNBC program and his radio show. Schultz has also been paid hundreds of thousands by organized unions for speeches and advertising. As POLITICO reported last week, Schultz was paid $252,000 by unions over the last two years.

However, AFL-CIO spokesperson Josh Goldstein said the federation was not just focusing on Hayes and Schultz: "The bigger personalities like Maddow, Sharpton, [and] O'Donnell aren't off the hook."

In Wednesday's letter to MSNBC, Trumka, et al., accuse Peacock Productions of forcing workers to attend mandatory anti-union meetings and employing legal maneuvers "to impound the ballots the workers cast in a June election."

"These actions are wrong, and we hope that you will stand with your colleagues to denounce them," write Trumka, et al. "Millions of viewers across the country look to your shows as a platform for progressive ideas and advancing workers’ rights. The workers at Peacock respect your work, as do we, and have seen the influence you have on many issues important to working people. We urge you to take the time to meet with these producers and associate producers to hear their concerns first-hand. We would be glad to join you. We know you will be moved, as we have been."

Salon's Josh Eidelson has more on the workers' dispute with MSNBC here, here and here.