Unions accuse TPT of layoffs targeting members

The local president and vice president of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET) have been laid off from Twin Cities Public Television, reports the online news site The Twin Cities Daily Planet. A NABET statement said that in August, after union contracts were renegotiated, TPT announced layoffs of four of 11 NABET employees and at least three IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) members. The NABET workers were on the production crew for Almanac, the station's weekly pubaffairs program. TPT President Jim Pagliarini said the station was "absolutely not" trying to quash the unions. "We need to free up resources," Pagliarini said. The station recently made three senior hires, two for existing positions and one the new position of chief revenue officer. The CRO will help "bring more money into the station," Pagliarini told the Planet.