REVEALED: Pacifica Management Salaries, and Behind the Firings at KPFA

A lot of us make no where near that for working hard all day.

The problem with respecting seniority is that a lot of the problems have been around for a long time too, and are entrenched along with those senior members.

If you're wondering how such a crisis happened, maybe ask how it happened when people have been making $80k off of this "grass roots" station.

Layoffs by seniority are the bedrock of all union contracts. Those that have a problem doing layoffs by seniority are simply saying they have a problem with unions.

You can't be for unions and against seniority. We need to understand that the historical alternative to seniority is favoritism. Favoritism is the one of the fundamental reasons why unions were created in the first place.

In this situation, the union has not argued that seniority shouldn't be followed in layoffs. Instead, the union has filed an unfair labor practice charge, claiming Pacifica failed to follow the union contract concerning consideration an alternative budget proposal submitted by the union.

I have my doubts about the merit of the union's NLRB charge, but that's not for me to decide, it will be decided by the NLRB. If Pacifica is found to have breached the contract, I will support the NLRB ruling and urge Pacifica to reform it's process so as to properly consider the union's proposal and come up with a new budget.

If the union's NLRB charge is decided to be without merit, I will support Pacifica's layoffs of KPFA staff as long as they're done by seniority and the other provisions of the union contract.

In San Francisco, a receptionist makes $37,000 a year, a legal secretary makes $60K-$70,000 a year. You need to make at least what a receptionist makes to bring home the bare minimum of $25,000 a year for one person's survival. Thus, $80,000 a year for management positions is very low. These are the kind of positions that usually require a college degree or equivalent experience and are supposed to allow one to suppport a family.

Pacifica CFO, La Varn Williams, has an MBA with emphasis on finance. She worked many years as a high level financial analyst. Her skills and experience would earn her much more in the private sector. She often works 60+ hours a week. At one time she was ICFO and IGM at WBAI, basically giving her life to Pacifica during that period. Arlene Engelhart is working as hard and long to save KPFA and Pacifica. While I don't have personal knowledge of her back round I believe she has the experience to merit her pay.

The CL screams about "professionalism" and yet at the same time wants people to manage the multi-million dollar network who will work for peanuts?

Their recent GM ally, who was fired for gross negligent handling of a $375,000.00 check, among other things, had no prior radio experience and was getting paid much more than the staff. I never heard them complain about her pay rate? This while the CL entrenched staff/management took the station from 28,000 subscribers in 2003 to 22,000 in 2009 and at the same time increased paid staff by 50% or more and refused to make the necessary cuts cuts for years!!!

As Malcom X said so profoundly, " The chickens come home to roost" and now the CL wants to blame the financial problems on everyone else with their spin, spin and more spin.

And yet somehow-the KPFA (Recalled) Treasurer, a CL/Save KPFA member, management favorite, Volunteer Supervisor, who won't get involved on behalf of volunteers, while of course accepting the PAY of a supervisor and "Staff Representative" flew to Copenhagen on KPFA's dime to cover a story every reporter in the Bay area had available sound on.

NO problem says the then management group, heavy laden with CL/KPFA Save Itself for Themselves managers: Sasha Lilley the NON Creative Programmer who brought nothing to the table but instead used imports from anywhere to fill her creative void, and of course my personal fav manager, the infamous Lois "Call the Cops Quick---There's wild blacks in here" Withers, stalwartly supported by the even more notoriously ineffective administrator (and I use the term loosely) inexperienced GM Lemlem Rijio.

Rijio did however, manage at least one thing, with support from AP Plagiarizer Queen of the Entrenched, co-news editor Aileen "My entire life is a lie"Alfandary, Advisor/Clique Elitist King BET and other CL/KPFA Save Itself from Itself members, turned an interim position into a 3 year drudgery tenure that ended with her sitting on check for nearly half a million while our mediocre leader jacked up salaries and benefit packages for her entrenched/elitist clique followers, and pleaded on air for even more dough, apparently to sit on.

It would appear Rijio liked to warm her rump with a well padded throne: the hard earned cash of KPFA Listeners.

Yeah-definitely- we want more of that kind of "leadership". I know! Why don't we just earmark certain fundraisers for the entrenched and their favorites? We could call it the "All Year Long ConcernedListener Rip Off/Fullofourselves Fund Drive.

No need to count the money-they could just divy it up into carved out salaries for favorites that support the highly moral 30 Year Entrenched Group. Oh---they already have. I see. But it was not enough $$$? Oh dear. Maybe we should start taking money from corporate sponsors---like NPR does. Community? Did you say the "C" word? W-w-where? In KPFA? Lock them up. Or out, either way.

Now that we've settled that Concerned Listener/Save Itself from Itself while lying to Itself- concern, we can really move forward back into the 19th century and balance our economy on the back of the suffering community while living a hip, comfortable thirty year tenured elitist entrenched life. Perfect. Who needs a soul?

"Nice job if you can get it and you can get it if you lie.."

(Thank God for Phelps, Rosenberg, ICR, Voices for Justice, English and other true to the Vision KPFA Lovers. And RE:Historians; WTF is the deal with Matt Lazaar? Oh there is no deal? Or is it Let's Make a Deal?)