Swervin' KDNA
Chuck Perov is the organizer of the annual bike trek from western Washington over the mountains and into the Yakima Valley, that culminates in a visit and celebratory dinner with KDNA staff in Granger. For over fifteen years he has coordinated this adventure, which has turned into one of the major annual fund raising events for KDNA and NCEC.
This year, he heard about the troubles, and wrote to Maria Fernandez seeking a better understanding of what was going on. He has generously allowed us to share his correspondence here.
June 23, 2009
Maria Fernandez
KDNA/NCEC
P.O. Box 800
Granger, WA 98932
Dear Maria:
Greetings from Seattle, and regards to you and the station personnel. I’m writing about the annual Swervin’ and Curvin’ event I coordinate every September, of which NCEC and KDNA have long been the financial beneficiaries.
As you probably realize from having attended last year’s event, our group is always extremely pleased to participate in both the ride itself and, even more importantly, proud of being a part of the station’s accomplishments. Since we designated KDNA fifteen years ago, and especially since we began having our annual Saturday evening celebration with the staff either at the station or nearby, people have consistently told me how important it is to them that they make the connection with the community through the station and its dedicated team. In turn, I have always appreciated the fact that the personnel were willing to give up their entire Saturday to meet and host us. Beyond that, I have been very proud and pleased that over the years, we have generated an ever-growing financial contribution of unrestricted funds. As a nonprofit employee myself, I know how critical it is to get funds which do not require cumbersome reporting, program detailing, and so forth. I am very happy that for so many years, we’ve been able to provide thousands of dollars annually in cash, computers, and other in-kind donations to benefit the community.
I have had every expectation that our relationship and connection with the station and community would last as long as the event itself. Recently, however, I have been informed that there are some challenging internal issues afoot at the station, so I wanted to contact you for your input. One of my friends alerted me to the Yakima Herald-Tribune reports about the labor issues at KDNA, and as I read more about it I was troubled to find in the newspaper that Matt Adams, whom I know professionally outside of the station, had resigned from the Board, apparently due to very awkward organizational circumstances. Matt has always been a thoughtful, intelligent, compassionate advocate for farmworkers and for the community, so I found this news very disturbing, and I am sure he did not take the decision lightly.
Eventually, I have found out a bit more about the labor problems at the station, and this too troubles me. I understand now that there is an agreement with management and staff to accept the decision of an arbitrator in this matter, but from what I have been able to find in the newspapers and other media this process has not yet gone very far. I am hopeful that it will move forward sooner rather than later.
In any case, I write to say that I certainly realize I do not have a full picture of what is happening at the station with the staff or management, so I would like to ask you to let me know your perspective on the situation is at present. You probably realize that last year our event generated almost $9,000 in cash, more in “in-kind” donations, and continued goodwill and education among our group. As a funder and volunteer KDNA fundraiser, I am interested in knowing more about what is presently happening there. I don’t see anything listed on the website calendar, so perhaps that is going to be updated soon. I have always communicated to my event participants what is currently underway at the station in terms of programming, new initiatives, recent achievements, financial situations, etc., as a way to encourage them to give generously, and we have been quite successful in that regard. Could you please provide me some information about these areas, as well as information about the status of the many long-time station staffers, who have always worked effectively with us and with the community? It will be helpful to me to know more at this point, and I am very interested in your perspective. I feel that with the sensitive issues KDNA is obviously facing, I need to learn more about what to anticipate in the next few weeks before I can comfortably plan our event and ask that you and the other members of the staff commit to hosting us again as has been done for the last dozen years.
I don’t expect a highly detailed response to the questions I’ve raised; I’d simply like some basic information, as a funder and key volunteer for the station. This is what I’ve requested periodically in the past, so that I’d be able to inform our participants as I solicited their donations on behalf of the station. I know that all of us are busy with our daily activities and I don’t want to prevent you from your work of seeking even larger contributions, grants and so forth, so I’d like to make my request manageable for you to handle. I think the basic questions for me as a funder are:
- What are the current main programs and any new initiatives now underway at the station?
- What is the status of the arbitration, and on what timeline is it expected to move forward?
- Who are the current members of the Board of Directors? (I had hoped to find this on the website but was surprised that it does not indicate a board membership.)
Our event is scheduled for the final Saturday in September, so we will need to make plans soon. We are committed to supporting the farmworker community and to continued partnership with the KDNA staff in order to strengthen the Voice of the Farmworker. I hope that you’ll be able to respond by the end of next week, or to let me know when I might expect to hear from you.
Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
/by email/
Chuck Perov
July 20,2009
Chuck Perov
Swervin and Curvin Group
Dear Chuck,
I hope this letter finds you well. I was very happy to hear from you, although I would rather it were under very different circumstances. The Swervin and Curvin event that you help to coordinate for NCEC/Radio KDNA is undoubtedly a very special one for the staff, the organization and the families that we serve. I certainly understand the admiration, bond and respect that would build over a 15 year period among people who strive for a cause that aids a community. Certainly, the goal in mind has always been for the benefit of the community.
I appreciate your candor in your letter. I, likewise, would like to be very candid. It is correct that we, at NCEC/Radio KDNA, are experiencing turbulent times. I am certain that you understand what a work environment must be like when a new Director comes in to replace a Director of over 25 years. It is not a simple staff/management dispute. The Board of Directors brought me into the organization to implement a new structure for the organization that it had not had before. The level of accountability prior to my hire was minimal at best. Simple employment practices that you and I take for granted, such as coming to work on time, showing up to work at all, or even showing basic respect or common courtesy for your fellow co-worker, many times was not recognized by some of the NCEC/Radio KDNA staff. Further compounding the situation is having to deal with founders syndrome.
I understand that you hold Matt Adams with great esteem. I am sure that your experiences have taught you that this would be appropriate. However, the NCEC Board of Directors is comprised of nine members, all of whom are highly responsible and highly intelligent. They did accept Matt Adams resignation primarily because there was an obvious difference of opinion. The BOD's primary interest is in the mission of our organization and not the loyalty to anyone individual person. The Board of Directors and I are very deliberate in our decision-making. We continue to hold the communities that we serve as our priority.
We also continue to work in good faith with our staff, despite their active campaign to smear the Board of Directors and the management. We have agreed to arbitration and a contract with the union. The termination of the two former employees was appropriate, however to put an end to the strike, we decided that an arbiter would hear the case. The arbitration is still in its initial stages. The Union and NCEC are now in the process of agreeing to an arbiter. I do not know when the dates for the meeting with the arbiter will take place, but I am sure that the proceeding will take place within the next few months.
NCEC has a number of wonderful goals for growth. We have seen dramatic changes in our local communities, particularly in our demographics. Our communities have generations of Latinos that are bilingual and bicultural and we want to reach out to these newer generations. This does not mean that we forget our roots. We are very appreciative of the roots of NCEC and Radio KDNA as La Voz del Campesino. But what better way to continue to help our farmworkers and immigrants than by bridging the generational and cultural gap that exists, even in our Latino communities.
If you have not seen any major updates to our website, it is primarily because we have been very focused on designing a new web site, which will be unveiled in September. This new website comes with our ability to stream the station. You will soon be able to hear us from our Radio KDNA website anywhere around the world. One of our initiatives is to bring NCEC and Radio KDNA in the new digital age; I do not mean just that we convert from analog transmission to digital. I mean that we have a technological presence with all generations via the web and other means of communications, including blogging, video streaming for news and documentaries, podcasts, twitter, and the like.
We are also reviewing our programming for a variety of reasons including updating the sound of KDNA. If you ask most random youth from the ages of 16 to 25 about whether or not they listen to KDNA, their response is mostly "no" because KDNA "is for old people". We understand that most youth are much more familiar with the commercial radio sound; however, we also know that youth want and need to be engaged in discussion. We tested this last year during the historical presidential elections when we added a new show that covered the politics of the time, and surprisingly many of the participants, including call-in listeners, of the show were the youth. They appreciated the opportunity to be engaged in these discussions and debates. We know we have a great idea on our hands, and we want to continue to cultivate it.
You also requested a list of our Board of Directors. Our Board of Directors includes:
Jorge Lobos - Board Chairman
Becky Mares - Board Vice-Chair
Leonard Black - Board Treasurer
Irma Jimenez de Prieto - Board Secretary
Patricia Flores - Member
Sergio Marquez - Member
Jesus Armendariz - Member
Natalia Ybarra - Member
Sister Mary Rita Rohde - Member
I hope that this letter gives you a response to your concerns. It would be my pleasure to have an opportunity to actually speak with you in person to provide any additional clarity. My hope is that you keep an open mind and understand that, as one of mentors says, "even positive change, can be painful." If you have any questions, or if you would like to meet, please feel free to contact me at your convenience. Thanks so much for your many years of support and I hope that we can count on you and the Swervin and Curvin group to continue to support the mission of NCEC and Radio KDNA.
Sincerely,
Maria F. Fernandez
Executive Director
July 26, 2009
Maria Fernandez
KDNA/NCEC
P.O. Box 800
Granger, WA 98932
Dear Maria:
Thank you for your response and for trying to address some of the key issues I mentioned in my letter. I am sure that you realize how much effort I have put into making Swervin’ and Curvin’ a positive part of KDNA/NCEC, both in terms of generating cash (net: $9,300+ in 2008) as well as goodwill between diverse groups of people. I too am sorry that we are not able to communicate under much better circumstances. As you requested, I am keeping an open mind about the situation. However, your response leaves me with fewer answers than I had hoped to have, so I feel that I should seek clarification and additional information, as well as to provide you an update regarding the plans for our event given the situation.
Of course I understand that new leadership of a long-established and successful organization will naturally involve changes and even “growing pains” in terms of the areas you are mentioning. In addition, I agree that it makes sense to review programming choices to determine how to best serve the community and attract a broader listener base. These are the kinds of gradual modifications which all organizations must make to remain dynamic and address current realities. On the other hand, regardless of what sort of work culture existed at the station prior to current management’s installation, it is clear that the staff and leadership had accomplished a great deal over the years, both tangibly (awards garnered, number of community members served by various programs, etc.) and intangibly (the realization of the new building and the creation of a healthy amount of reserve funds with which to sustain and nurture it and the programs). While some kinds of changes in everyday operations may have been warranted, your letter implies that there was virtually no existing structure of any kind prior to your arrival, and that you therefore expected to implement a rigid new management system in short order, despite the fact that the station and staff had accomplished so much of which to be proud over the years.
You mention that the staff has undertaken an “active campaign to smear the Board of Directors and the management,” stating that management is working “in good faith” by agreeing to arbitration and a contract with the union. Clearly you feel the recent staff firings were well-justified and that management handled the situation appropriately; this makes it especially puzzling to read that the arbitration proceeding has no concrete time frame and that it “will take place within the next few months.” For longtime staff who had participated in the station’s successes and who feel that they were terminated unfairly, a “few months” is frankly an unreasonably long time to wait without a job or compensation. Since you are confident that management will prevail in an arbitration hearing, it is certainly advisable to prioritize and schedule this proceeding sooner rather than later so that it can be put behind everyone and management can turn to its stated business. Delaying the proceeding in this situation can easily appear, whether fairly or not, to be a calculated management effort to discourage the terminated staff until they simply abandon the matter. I really hope that the Board and management realize that this situation must be addressed without further delay. You have mentioned, on the radio, that the station management found it necessary to hire legal representation for this purpose; obviously the longer the situation endures the more funding it will drain in terms of legal fees, further weakening the organization’s financial position. In addition, you have said that management is working “in good faith” with staff; this could be more conclusively demonstrated by its making resolution of this matter a priority.
On the One World Report showwhich recently aired on KBCS, your comments and those made by Matt Adams were at odds; it is simply not possible that both of you were accurate. Are there written records regarding the “coaching and training” offered the terminated staff as a way to encourage them to improve their work performance? Was it a gradually escalated disciplinary process as you implied? Was each step agreed to in writing by the employee and supervisor and signed to acknowledge mutual understanding of the issues and benchmarks to determine needed improvements? These are all normal procedures for any type of human resources discipline and review, and I assume that they are provided for in the bylaws and other policy documents on file for NCEC. If this is the case, then management would have little difficulty prevailing at an arbitration hearing. If it is not the case, as implied by Matt, then it would obviously be in management’s interests to postpone the hearing as long as possible.
I am also sorry to hear you blithely refer to “founder’s syndrome” as a part of the problem. That really sounds like a major oversimplification and a way of deflecting criticism through a convenient phrase, even if it is intended to signify only one component of the issue. When an organization has been founded and successfully nurtured for years and years by a committed individual and team, it is natural that that those people will want to remain somewhat involved, even if they have moved to the sidelines. In front of our group last year, the “mantle” was symbolically and graciously passed to you. Your statement implies that any old-guard involvement is generally harmful, and that there is no room for those people to participate at all.
As for the website, which you state is being updated, it should for informational (and possibly legal) purposes still be accurate as far as staff and director listings. Of the nine Directors’ names you sent me, only six appear on the website; the other five listed on the site apparently are not current Board members. In addition, I note that the “current” staff listing includes the names of the fired employees, while it does not list any replacement workers hired and/or retained following the strike.
Of course Matt Adams, as a Director, was only one such member of the board, and I do not question the qualifications, commitment, and talents of the others. For that reason, I forwarded my letter to the Board members for whom I had email addresses; I had hoped that some of them would comment as well. It seems to me very clear that Matt’s resignation was due not simply to a “difference of opinion” but ultimately to the fact that he and other Board members could not obtain information required for them to properly discharge their fiduciary and management responsibilities. I would be grateful to hear from other members of the board if this is not the case; on the other hand, I recognize that some of this information may not be accessible to me or to other station funders, at least not until the 2009 annual report and tax return are submitted and available to the public through the Washington State and Guidestar avenues.
In any case, my largest concern by far is that the terminated staff workers, with whom the Swervin’ and Curvin’ participants have had a personal connection over many, many years, are required to wait an inordinately unfair length of time before having their situations addressed. Until at least that single issue is resolved, I simply cannot in good conscience plan our event in the usual way – as a benefit for NCEC/KDNA.
I hope that you will take these comments and additional inquiries constructively as well; I remain very concerned about the situation and the many individuals who have dedicated their time and efforts to the station over the years. They have always made us feel extremely welcome and connected to the community, and in doing so enriched the experience for all of our participants. I also hope that you will keep me informed about relevant developments which will help with the planning I have to do for the event. Obviously I am unable to designate KDNA as the beneficiary of our event at this time, but I remain hopeful that management will resolve the most pressing issues and that it will be possible to restore our relationship in the future. Also, while it may be appropriate for us to talk in person at some point, I would prefer for now to continue communicating in writing so as to avoid any possible misinterpretation or incomplete understanding of the situation. This also helps me relate to the other contributors exactly what has been stated rather than relying on paraphrasing of conversations.
Thank you for keeping me informed, and I will look forward to updates soon.
Sincerely,
/by email/
Chuck Perov
