Pacifica National Board Votes To Have Recall Election For Brian Edwards-Tiekert

Pacifica National Board Votes To Have Recall Election For Brian Edwards-Tiekert
The PNB has voted to allow an election to recall KPFA Concerned Listeners CL supporter and operative Brian Edwards-Tiekert. ET has gotten new positions and programming slots at KFPA without allowing other staff and programmers to bid for positions. He also supported the attack on the Flashpoints staff and for de-recognition of the Unpaid Staff Organization UPO.

The following was a petition that was signed by many staffers paid and unpaid to remove him from his position on the KPFA Board.

PETITION FOR ELECTION ON REMOVAL OF DELEGATE BRIAN EDWARDS-TIEKERT
We, the undersigned KPFA staff members, hereby call for an election to be held on the question of removing Brian Edwards-Tiekert as a staff delegate to the KPFA Local Station Board (“LSB”) as provided under Article 4, Section 9, Part E of the “Amended and Restated Bylaws of the Pacifica Foundation”. We believe that during his tenure as a staff delegate, Mr. Edwards-Tiekert has exhibited conduct that is adverse to the best interests of KPFA, in particular by fostering a hostile and divisive work environment, and damaging KPFA’s public image as reflected in the following examples.
· Mr. Edward-Tiekert authored an online petition on August 5, 2009 in which he stated falsely that KPFA’s bank accounts were to be raided by the parent Pacifica Foundation and repeated these charges to the Berkeley Daily Planet in a cover story that appeared on August 6,, 2009. The false accusations alarmed KPFA’s donors and workers and threatened the financial health of the station at a time when it was already running a $300,000 deficit. This action resulted in an embarrassing front page retraction by the media outlet the following week, resulting in poor publicity for the station and increased fundraising difficulties.

· Mr. Edwards-Tiekert has shown disregard for the long-established practice of KPFA’s unpaid staff having management-recognized collective representation via the Unpaid Staff Organization (UPSO). At the LSB meeting of August 18, 2007, Mr. Edwards-Tiekert opposed a motion directing management to reverse its withdrawal of recognition for UPSO as the official representative of KPFA’s unpaid staff, and when a vote took place, abstained. When the motion passed, and the Pacifica National Board later passed a motion to the same effect, Mr. Edwards-Tiekert was not among the LSB members who called on management to comply with board directives.

· Mr. Edwards-Tiekert has supported General Manager Lemlem Rijio and Interim Program Director Sasha Lilley in acting to expand their own power at the expense of staff participation in significant program decisions by making programming changes without consulting the program council and failing to convene program council meetings for over two years. This has caused staff alienation and division to the extent that 75 staff members signed a statement calling for a new General Manager. By continuing to support managers in discrediting well-established procedures for participatory decision making, Mr. Edwards Tiekert has fostered a hostile and divisive work environment.

· Mr. Edwards-Tiekert was a signatory to a Berkeley Daily Planet commentary on September 18, 2008 which purported in its byline to be from “KPFA Staff” (although the commentary had ten signatures and half were not KPFA staff members). The commentary directed insinuations at unnamed staff members who criticized management’s use of police against Nadra Foster on August 20, 2008 accusing staffers of being “opportunistic individuals (who) have sensationalized the incident for their own ends”. By publicly misrepresenting his own opinion as the opinion of “staff”, despite the many staff members who hold a differing view, Mr. Edwards-Tiekert has not properly represented the interests of the staff.

We therefore ask that an election for KPFA staff members on the removal question be scheduled, that such election be held at the earliest possible time consistent with good practice and compliance with the Bylaws, and that it be conducted with the oversight of an impartial election supervisor.
PETITION FOR THE ELECTION ON REMOVAL OF DELEGATE BRIAN EDWARDS-TIEKERT