KEYT Workers Accuse Parent Company of Stonewalling During Contract Negotiations

Union Members Say that KEYT’s Parent Company, New-Press & Gazette, Isn’t Coming to the Table to Negotiate

KEYT-TV producer Owen Pratt addresses journalists outside of Santa Barbara’s City Hall. Behind him, KEYT-TV union members gather to discuss the lack of wage negotiation from the station's parent company, New-Press & Gazette. | Credit: Christina McDermott

This article was underwritten in part by the Mickey Flacks Journalism Fund for Social Justice, a proud, innovative supporter of local news. To make a contribution go to sbcan.org/journalism_fund.

Eight KEYT union members gathered on the steps of Santa Barbara City Hall with signs and a microphone on Friday afternoon. IATSE Local 600, the union representing the news station’s anchors, producers, directors, journalists, and editors, held a press conference to discuss what the union called stonewalling from the station’s parent company, News-Press & Gazette, headquartered in Missouri.

“For nearly a year, our union has tried to negotiate a fair contract with our parent company, News-Press & Gazette, but time after time again, they have refused to pay us a living wage and hire enough people to keep us running,” said Owen Pratt, a news producer.

He said folks at KEYT know the job comes with long hours, holiday work, and a level of risk, but that they do so to serve the community. But, he said, many of the employees make $18 an hour or less.

The City of Santa Barbara set its living wage — the wage required for all workers on contract to the city — at $23.12 per hour, a wage that Raquel Ruiz, the union business representative working with KEYT union members, said the union is asking for.

Ruiz said the union chose the steps of City Hall for Friday’s press conference because of the city’s minimum working wage. She said that News-Press & Gazette’s initial wage offer was below state minimum wage requirements. After the union pointed this out, she said, the company offered minimum wage.

She said that all action is “on the table” but that the union does not have immediate plans to strike.

KEYT Producer Pratt said the station has experienced high turnover as a result of low wages.

“I can tell you, we’ve lost too many great people simply because they can’t afford to live in the very communities that we serve,” he said. Pratt later added, “Over the years, our staffing has eroded to the point where basic tasks are becoming more difficult to do.”

Presently, the station does not have a chief videographer or a news director, said KEYT videographer Gene Silva.

Santa Barbara County is expensive, especially its housing market. Last year, the City of Santa Barbara’s rent survey reported that on average you have to make $55.13 an hour to afford a one-bedroom apartment without being rent burdened (paying more than a third of your income toward rent) on the South Coast.

KEYT voted to unionize in a 17-13 vote in November 2024. At that time, KEYT videographer Gene Silva said that momentum to unionize had come earlier in the year, after News-Press & Gazette had reduced employees’ holiday days in order to meet minimum California sick day requirements.

Last Halloween, IATSE Local 600, which represents 13 other broadcast news stations around the country, said in a press release that negotiations between News-Press & Gazette and the KEYT employees had “broken down.” On January 13, ahead of the press conference, the union said the News-Press & Gazette was “stonewalling” attempts to negotiate higher wages.

Owned by the Bradley family, News-Press & Gazette owns several TV stations in California, including KCOY in Santa Maria, and KKFK in San Luis Obispo. It is not affiliated with the Santa Barbara News-Press or its nonprofit owner, Newswell.

In September, News-Press & Gazette recently shut down KEYT’s sister station, KION in Salinas, without a timely warning for its news staff, according to reporting from the area — a change that it said made union members sad for their peers and scared for the future.

IATSE Local 600 is circulating a petition requesting the News-Press & Gazette and the Bradleys settle a fair contract. The petition says that the company and the Bradleys made $40 million in profit over the past two years. As of Friday, the petition had 245 signatures.

The Independent has contacted News-Press & Gazette and will update the article with the company’s comment should it respond.