‘The worst treatment’: WHDH employees take to picket lines and lawsuits in tense contract fight
Richard Bourque, a single parent of two kids, has spent eight years as a maintenance technician at WHDH-TV (Channel 7). For most of that time, he has worked three nights and two day shifts a week to abide by a plan set up with the station to make sure he can see his children.
But amid negotiations for a new contract between WHDH and the union representing photographers and other technical staff, Bourque, the union’s chief steward, said managers in May changed his schedule to nights only. The switch means he sees much less of his kids.
The change in Bourque’s schedule is among the many labor grievances he and fellow union representatives say have been piling up at the independent local station. Photographers and technicians said they have not received a raise since 2023, and they only get six paid holidays per year; their peers at WBZ-TV (Channel 4) and WCVB-TV (Channel 5), represented by the same union, have 10 holidays.
Some members have alleged in federal lawsuits that the station failed to properly compensate some employees for work-related travel. The union’s previous contract lapsed a year ago, and they’ve held informational pickets in the past few weeks to raise awareness of their concerns.
“It’s all of our work, all of our names, that gets us on the air,” Bourque said. “This is the worst treatment from management we’ve ever experienced.”
The IBEW Local 1228, which represents WHDH production staff, filed an unfair labor practice against the station with the National Labor Relations Board, a copy of which the Globe reviewed.
Lily Pardo, a spokesperson for WHDH owner Sunbeam Television, wrote in response to a detailed request for comment that “Sunbeam is actively negotiating with the union in good faith.”
“We do not negotiate in the press or public forums,” she added.
With the unpredictability of breaking stories and the challenges of covering shootings and fires, local TV news jobs have never been easy. But the industry’s economics have come under pressure as audiences increasingly cut the cord and turn to social media for information instead, and staying in the business has become even more difficult.
In a city with five commercial TV news outlets, WHDH is the lone independent station, meaning it doesn’t air national network shows. As a result, WHDH broadcasts 11.5 hours of local news programming every weekday — the second-most of any station in the market — as it’s generally cheaper to produce original shows than pay for syndicated content.
That original programming relies on local labor. But the union said its ranks have dwindled, putting more work and pressure on the staff that remain. Over the past four years, the WHDH union has fallen in membership by 20 percent due to attrition.
“They’re treating it like we still have the same staff we had 10 years ago,” said Nick Sapienza, a WHDH photographer and editor who filed a lawsuit against the station this month over alleged labor violations.
The workers’ union is pushing for a 3 percent wage increase — which would be the first raise since 2023. Fifteen of the union’s 18 other contracts in New England guaranteed raises for members of at least 3 percent last year and this year, according to contract data provided by Steve Katsos, the guild’s assistant business manager.
According to Katsos and the stewards, WHDH is only offering a 1 percent increase, citing that as an independent station, it has less money and can’t pay what its competitors do. Negotiations began in June 2025, and the two sides remain at a standstill.
“All we’re asking for is a reasonable human raise,” said Dusty Wood, a photojournalist and union steward who has worked at WHDH for 21 years.
Union representatives also said that health care costs have skyrocketed for some members and that as the only TV news station whose headquarters are in Boston, parking and transportation costs have also taken a toll on staff.
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Bourque, Wood, and Katsos said the conversations with management have been tense. They said managers have often arrived late.
At one bargaining session in January, when the guild invited other union members to sit in on the negotiations, Bourque, Katsos, and Wood said, a manager told a bargaining unit member to get up so he could take his seat. They said the manager explained that he couldn’t sit in his own chair, which had torn paper on it, saying that his tailor would be upset because he was wearing a $2,000 suit.
For the past several weeks, WHDH workers have been holding informational pickets outside the station in downtown Boston. They also handed out informational material at the July 4 celebrations on the Esplanade, which WHDH covered.
Around 50 supporters, including members of the IATSE and IBEW 103 unions, joined WHDH and a giant inflatable rat in picketing outside the station’s studios on Wednesday. Supporters blew whistles and a vuvuzela as they chanted for a fair contract.
On top of unfair labor practices filed with the NLRB, some employees have resorted to federal court. In two lawsuits, workers alleged that the company violated labor laws by failing to adequately pay them for work-related travel.
One of the suits alleged that three employees were not properly compensated for work that included transporting cameras and equipment for coverage during winter storms earlier this year.
Union representatives, who met with WHDH managers, were told that hotel rooms ahead of the snow storms “were offered as a courtesy” and “did not require payment for the time spent,” which employees disputed, according to the lawsuit filed by WHDH employees Britanny Carr, Kurt Hartwell, and Matthew Gibbons.
“I deserve what I’m owed, and I want to be paid that,” Carr said on the picket line Wednesday. ”And also, to stand up for everyone else in the union. Someone has to put their name out there.”
In a separate lawsuit, Sapienza alleged that the station failed to pay him for all of the hours he worked during WHDH-related flights.
The employees are all seeking compensation they argue they are owed, as well as coverage of legal fees, reimbursements, and any other relief.
“WHDH is aware of the dispute, has reviewed all records, and has determined that all employees were properly paid,” Pardo said in a statement.
So far, the union has resisted taking a strike authorization vote. But union representatives said they have discussed it and if the stalemate in contract negotiations continues, they may need to take it up.
“It’s always the worst-case scenario, but with the disrespect we’ve received from management, you have to look at every option,” Bourque said.
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