KDNA strike ends with arbitration promise

GRANGER, Wash. -- After nearly a month on strike, Radio KDNA employees have agreed to a settlement and will return to work Monday.

Employees of the Spanish-language public radio station have been protesting in front of the Granger station since May 16 about what they called unfair labor practices, including the dismissal of two workers.

They signed a return-to-work agreement on Wednesday that allows for two terminated employees to go through a binding arbitration.

“I’m satisfied because we’ve taken a step,” said one of the strikers, program coordinator Saida Mariel Rodriguez. “We hope that all of this ends the way we’ve asked, and that our two former companions will return to work, too.”

The station, which is a major source of news and information for farm workers and recent immigrants, has been relying on volunteers to run operations for the past three weeks. Also, bilingual programming from a nonprofit radio network has been airing in its place on the dial 91.9 FM.

Jorge Lobos, a member of the station’s board of directors, said he’s glad the strike is over.

“This is a good thing because we’ve run into a series of problems with the community, which has been badly informed,” he said. “What we need to do now is get to work and demonstrate that we’re good and capable of delivering to our community all that we’ve been telling them we can provide: Educational, useful information.”

KDNA employees unionized earlier this year, joining Teamsters Union Local 760 — an ironic turn of events for the 29-year-old station rooted in supporting workers’ rights.

Problems began last summer after longtime director Ricardo Garcia stepped down. His replacement, Maria Fernandez, has a more formal style of management and has said she dismissed two employees because of their job performance.

Employees contend they were dismissed because of union organizing activities.

• Melissa Sánchez can be reached at 509-577-7675 or msanchez@yakimaherald.com.