Boycott WKYC For Slashing Pay of Its Workers

Cleveland's TV station owners are - as are other corporations - taking advantage of the job problems - by slashing the pay of its workers. It's for no other reason than they can apparently get away with it.

The Cleveland Scene has been watching this issue.

This item on its blog reveals that WKYC-TV, Channel 3, is slashing pay without dealing with its union. Just cut it and let them run to the NLRB, I guess is the attitude.

What people need to do is tell WKYC that they will boycott the station's news as long as its workers are being so shabbily treated.

Here's the Scene piece:

Trouble in TV Land

After nine months of difficult negotiations, management at Cleveland's WKYC-TV3 has broken off labor negotiations and implemented a unilateral pay cut for union members.

The National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, Communications Workers of America (NABET-CWA) says the station is in violation of its contract, which should have been in place for another 18 months. It's filed a grievance with the National Labor Relations Board and is now seeking a federal injunction to enforce the contract.

For the pay period that began January 10, management implemented pay cuts for union members that amount to reduction of between 8 and 18 percent. Last week, 54 employees received their first reduced paycheck. Most of them have technical jobs, from broadcast maintenance to videography. The union says the station also implemented other unauthorized changes affecting work hours, sick days and vacation days.

The union's national representative, Lou Fallot, has been traveling from Washington, D.C., to Cleveland for bargaining. A federal mediator became involved in September, but the station's stance remained firm.

"From day one, they made statements saying they were going to get economic concessions by this or any other means," says Fallot.

Early last year, non-union employees took a pay cut between 4 and 6 percent and accepted a one-week furlough. "We were willing to take the same pay cuts that the non-union people were talking," says NABET-CWA Local 42 vice president James Kolendo. "They turned that down."

Fallot says the union's last offer was a five percent wage reduction. "The station said it wasn't even worth a counter [offer]," reports Fallot. "They're hellbent on achieving their proposals without doing any further bargaining."

Fallot, who represents the union at a dozen stations, says the situation is "very unusual. I find Gannett [Broadcasting, WKYC's parent corporation] to be the most greedy, arrogant company I've ever had the pleasure of negotiating."

WKYC General Manager Brooke Spectorsky had no comment on the situation and characterized the cuts as "new posted conditions after reaching an impasse." He said the station's cuts would remain in effect "until such time as we sit back down and negotiate a new contact."

A membership meeting is scheduled for February 13. Fallot would not discuss whether the union was considering a strike.

Gateway Costs Taxpayers $100 Million Plus

Taxpayers continue to pay dearly for the run-over costs from Gateway. Cuyahoga County sent a check of $2,493,426.93 but that was only a small portion of tax funds that now total far more than $100 million paid for bond borrowings in the 1990s.

Payments last year put the cost over $100 million; $9.7-million payment was made this January.

Similar January payments will continue annually through 2023. Go Cavs!

Dan Gilbert, Cavaliers owner, is one of the beneficiaries of this tax subsidy. You can thank Tim Hagan and Mike White mostly for this heavy subsidization of Gateway.

The full payment was $9,787,701.05.

In addition to the $2.49 million check from the County another $7.29 million came from other public sources. It includes millions of City of Cleveland tax dollars via the admissions tax and some $3 million from County bed taxes. (In this case, the bed taxes for two years were allocated in 2010.) A small part of the cost results from consultant fees.

The accounting calls for a portion of admission taxes from Quicken Arena - instead of going to the money-strapped city � to be used to pay for these bonds. Cuyahoga County originally issued bonds of $75-million and $45 million in the mid 1990s for the Gateway project. This was in addition to the sin tax, which brought in some $230-million for Gateway.

The Gateway project funding formula requires certain admission tax receipts at Quicken Arena to be used for the bond payments. The share varies from five-eighths to 25 percent of the admission taxes from ticket sales to be used to pay bondholders.

What this dramatically reveals is the huge money-maker the arena is for Gilbert.

Here are the actual figures as given by documents from the County Auditor�s office.

GATEWAY ARENA PROJECT FUNDING 2009

DATE AMOUNT FUNDING SOURCE FROM GATEWAY TOTAL 2004B Bonds Int Invoice $ Amt:

Jan 01 2009 ~ Beginning Balance 1/1/2008 $41,533,218.25.

Jan 30 2009 $84,383.28 25% of admission tax for "events" for Dec. 2008 $41,617,601.53

Jan 30 2009 $464,189.81 5/8ths of Games admission tax for Dec. 2008 $42,081,791.34.

Feb 03 2009 $1,425,101.00 Annual Incremental Bed Tax Payment - 2008 $43,506,892.34.

Feb 28 2009 $54,624.58 25% of admission tax for "events" for Jan. 2009 $43,561,516.92.

Feb 28 2009 $416,958.84 5/8ths of Games admission tax for Jan. 2009 $43,978,475.76

Mar 28 2009 $21,765.17 25% of admission tax for "events" for Feb. 2009 $44,000,240.93.

Mar 28 2009 $353,296.22 5/8ths of Games admission tax for Feb. 2009 $44,353,537.15.

Apr 28 2009 $193,366.67 25% of admission tax for "events" for Mar. 2009 $44,546,903.82.

Apr 28 2009 $418,900.83 5/8ths of Games admission tax for Mar. 2009 $44,965,804.65.

May 31 2009 $64,455.56 25% of admission tax for "events" for Apr. 2009 $45,030,260.21.

May 31 2009 $698,168.05 5/8ths of Games admission tax for Apr. 2009 $45,728,428.26.

Jun 30 2009 $66,891.90 25% of admission tax for "events" for May. 2009 $45,795,320.16.

Jun 30 2009 $536,646.26 5/8ths of Games admission tax for May. 2009 $46,331,966.42.

Jul 30 2009 $0.00 25% of admission tax for "events" for Jun. 2009 $46,331,966.42.

Jul 30 2009 $0.00 5/8ths of Games admission tax for Jun. 2009 $46,331,966.42.

Aug 29 2009 $0.00 25% of admission tax for "events" for Jul. 2009 $46,331,966.42.

Aug 29 2009 $0.00 5/8ths of Games admission tax for Jul. 2009 $46,331,966.42.

Sep 30 2009 $41,775.04 25% of admission tax for "events" for Aug. 2009 $46,373,741.46.

Nov 25 2009 $1,650,302.00 Annual Incremental Bed Tax Payment 2009 $48,024,043.46

Oct 30 2009 $17,949.30 25% of admission tax for "events" for Sep. 2009 $48,041,992.

Nov 30 2009 $69,908.17 25% of admission tax for "events" for Sep. 2009 $48,111,900.93.

Nov 30 2009 $323,458.96 5/8ths of Games admission tax for Oct. 2009 $48,435,359.89.

Dec 30 2009 $60,293.62 25% of admission tax for "events" for Nov. 2009 $48,495,653.51.

Dec 30 2009 $416,172.13 5/8ths of Games admission tax for Nov. 2009 $48,911,825.64 $7,378,607.39

2009 Collections

Admissions (Games/Events) Tax $4,303,204.39 Chg From Prev. Yr % Change

Excess Bed Tax from CVB $3,075,403.00 $952,916.57 22.1%

Total Revenue Collections $7,378,607.39 $3,075,403.00 100.0%

The document below shows the principal and interest payment due this year with a total of $9.7 million due. The amount shown as from �StarOhio� is the result of the transfer of funds from the admission taxes and bed taxes. See document:

GATEWAY-Jan10

Cuyahoga County Pledge Fund

Calculation of Funding required for 2010 in Gateway/Pledge Fund

Monthly interest on Series 2004B (floating rate @ 3.0459%) $4,353.10 per mo.x 12 = $52,237.19

"Bank Bond" interest @ 5.25% $76,496.88 per mo.x 12 = $917,962.50

(interest due 1st business day each month)

Interest on Series 1992A $1,509,375 x 2 = $3,018,750.00 (interest paid June 1 and Dec. 1)

Interest on Series 1994 $889,932.50 (June) $804,856.25 (Dec.) = $1,694,788.75 (interest paid June 1 and Dec. 1)

Interest on Series 2004A $68,725.00 (June) $36,125.00(Dec.) = $104,850.00 (interest paid June 1 and Dec. 1)

Principal due June 1 on Series 1994 bonds $2,315,000.00

Principal due June 1 on Series 2004A bonds $1,630,000.00

Wachovia Bank fees Calculated @ 90 bp x $1,715,000 + $19,734.25 $15,612.61 (1,715,000 x35/365 days interest @12%) (paid quarterly Jan. Apr. Jul. Oct. 15th)

Remarketing Agent fees = $30,000.00 (paid quarterly Mar. Jun. Sep. Dec. 15th)

Rating Agent fees = $8,500.00 (paid annually in 4th quarter)

Total Interest $5,788,588.44

Total Principal $3,945,000.00

Total fees $54,112.61

Jan. 15, 2010 Grand total due = $9,787,701.05

137402 Jan. 7, 2010 Balance in Star Ohio ? = ($7,294,274.12)

Jan. 15, 2010 Additional amount required = $2,493,426.93

That final figure is the amount of the check issued on Jan. 15 by Cuyahoga County from its general fund.

Only 13 more years to go!

Gateway's $3.2 Million Budget Bargain for Teams in 2010

The Gateway Economic Development Corp., the non-profit entity that operates Progressive Field and Quicken Arena, has set a budget of $3,275,873 for 2010.

As a result of Gateway's near bankruptcy a few years ago the two team owners decided to "save" Gateway from bankruptcy by agreeing to pay operating costs. They now are multi-millionaires Larry Dolan of the Indians and Dan Gilbert of the Cavaliers.

In exchange, the team owners got the entitlement to income from naming rights. It now looks as if the team owners again got the best of the bargain. By far.

Naming rights revenues now easily exceed the operating costs, as we shall see.

Just how good a deal this was can be seen by the naming rights cost at the former Jacobs Field, now Progressive Field. The naming rights bring Larry Dolan $3.6 million a year. (As Jacobs Field in the final years the rate was some $900,000 a year.) See the $3.6 million deal here: http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080111&content_id=2343558&vkey=news_cle&fext=.jsp&c_id=cle

Dolan's share of the 2010 proposed budget is $1,890,548, according to Gateway. That sounds like less than $3.6 million a year the naming rights produces. Maybe half?

Quicken Loans - also owned Gilbert - uses the naming rights on the former Gund Arena, which at the end of its life was paying some $900,000 a year. Obviously, the naming rights are far more valuable now but not recorded for publication. In essence, Gilbert is paying himself, however he works it for tax purposes.

Team naming rights here originally were to last until 2013 and would total about $14 million at each facility during that period. This revenue would have gone directly to the Gateway Economic Development Corp.

The rescue deal called for each team to pay a portion of the costs of operation. The major cost is property taxes. (As anyone who reads me knows Gateway is tax exempt. But that only applies to the structures. Land continues to be taxed.)

This year the property tax is set for $1,052,271 with $761,851 for the stadium and $290,420 for the arena.

The next highest cost is security for the two sites with $413,974 for the stadium and $401,761 for the arena. Maintenance is another high cost: $326,398 for the stadium; $356,676 for the arena.

The total operating costs of $3.2 million will be shared by the two teams as follows: Cleveland Indians, $1,890,548 and Cleveland Cavaliers, $1,385,325.

So Gateway - and the taxpayers - got the short end again. Or is it still?

Gilbert, owner of Quicken Loans, enjoys a very lucrative deal for the use of the arena. Data show that Cavs fans spend a game average of $317 for tickets, food and trinkets, according to a site that deals with these sporting teams. The fan index cost is for a family of four.

That suggests that Gilbert has gross revenue of some $65 million from the Cavs' games alone. (Attendance was some 820,000 last year.) He also enjoys the proceeds of all other events at the taxpayer built arena.

Data can be found here: http://basketball.ballparks.com/NBA/ClevelandCavaliers/index.htm

The Cleveland Indians had revenues of some $181 million last year. They spent a little more than half on players. See here:

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2009/33/baseball-values-09_Cleveland-Indians_333426.html

The cost of building the two facilities was some $154-million for the arena and $181-million for the stadium. Another some $40 million went for land and other costs. Some figure that close to 90 percent was tax subsidized.

Republicans Lie and News Media Spread It

The Audacity of No.

The Republican Party has put the country into serious financial jeopardy. Now they blame others.

Two Republican wars, two Republican tax cuts mostly to the wealth and a Republican prescription drug benefiting drug companies - and NONE paid for by the party that now sees disaster in deficits.

What gall.

Of course, one of the leaders of the dire need to deal with the deficit is our own Sen. George Voinovich. His image burnished by the Plain Dealer and Steve Koff recently as so, so concerned about our profligate spending.

In a paean of praise, Koff recently credited Voinovich, who ends his career this year, with going out by working to "force Washington to deal with the national debt that could doom the nation's shaky finances..."

Where have Voinovich and Koff been for eight years?

The problem we all are in now has to do with the news media, the mainstream media's biases. It's utter failure to be honest about the predicament we are in and who caused it.

They are treating the dire problems the nation faces dishonestly.

The treatment of President Barack Obama and the Democrats in reporting the situation the nation now finds itself lacks the proper context that could make truthful. So it is a lie.

The news media's failure is very similar to the way the news media treated Sen. Joe McCarthy by "reporting" his lies. Reporting and waiting for others to define his ravings. The major newspapers failed miserably by reporting lies as "news" in their supposed objective manner. He said it, didn't he? That's what we are reporting. That's news judgment?

It wasn't until after vast human damage was done that a few people spoke out or were allowed to counter his ravings. It took a major media figure as Edward R. Murrow to strike the blow to reveal the truth of Sen. McCarthy. We couldn't expect that of a Tom Brokaw. Courage may be his subject but it isn't his talent.

Now I read the newspapers, including the New York Times, for some honesty. But I don't find it.

This is the reason 49 Republicans are a "majority" in the U. S. Senate. They have 49 Senators and a sad-sack news media. Unwilling to present the truth in full frontal view. Too timid for unvarnished truth.

Republicans are making a mockery of governing by simply saying "No" to everything of any importance. It's a strategy right out of Rove. It should be headline stuff.

The message is clear. The aim is even clearer. They want to destroy the Obama administration. Stop it before it starts. No matter the cost to the nation. No matter the cost to ordinary people. Those suffering the most.

There's an old ditty I like to tell in these instances:

Why will people never say the things all people know?

Why must truth be smiled upon as if it were not so.

Ask your daily newspaper and national TV news.

Kasich Investor in Company That Plugs Ohio As "Better Than Ever" For Business

Republican Gubernatorial candidate John Kasich holds 45,000 share of stock in company that says "Ohio's business climate is better than ever." Oops.

The revelation came in a blog by former Plain Dealer reporter Bill Sloat in his meaninful blog out of Cinicinnati.

Read the story here:

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- John Kasich, the Republican candidate for governor of Ohio, serves on Invacare Corporation's board of directors and owns 45,000 shares of stock in the Elyria-based medical products manufacturer. (See the April 2009 proxy statement above.) Kasich's company -- which has made him rich -- loves the state. And while Kasich is campaigning on a theme that Ohio's tax climate is miserable for business growth and entrepreneurs, Invacare is taking part in a national advertising campaign that says "Ohio's business climate is better than ever." While Kasich claims Gov. Ted Strickland's administration has been chasing jobs out of the state, Kasich's company sees Oho as "an ideal location." Indeed Invacare's (IVC:NYSE) version of Ohio is poles apart from Kasich:

"From its early beginnings in 1885, Invacare has called Oho home. Here, they've found an ideal location, a skilled workforce, an excellent transportation infrastructure and government leaders will to work as partners with industry . . . And now Ohio business climate is better than ever. Major tax reforms have shifted policy from taxing capital investment , profits and wealth creation to taxing gross receipts. The result is greater incentives to invest in innovation and productivity and more support for entrepreneurial activity."

All that is from an advertisement that goes on to quote A. Malachai Mixon III, Invacare's Chairman and CEO, as saying Ohio has been a great location for his company: "From our headquarters in Ohio, Invacare has become a world leader in home medical products. The state's new tax laws will help us continue to grow."

Kasich has been on Invacare's board of directors since 2001. The latest proxy statement shows him with 45,018 shares. Just after noon today, those shares were worth $26.46 each -- or $1,1919,762. Kasich seems to have done well financially in a state whose tax and business climate he is ripping on the campaign trail. His Invacare holdings have made him wealthy. You can find the a link to the Invacare ad here and a brochure(pdf) that lists Invacare among several corporations that are effusive about their Ohio business locations.
POSTED BY BILL SLOAT AT 2/08/2010

Roldo Bartimole celebrates 50 years of news reporting this year. He published and wrote Point of View, a newsletter about Cleveland, for 32 years. He worked for the Plain Dealer and Wall Street Journal in the 1960s.

He was a 2004 Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame recipient and won the national Joe Callaway Award for Civic Courage in 1991.