Some Voice of America contract employees not paid since November

Forget about Christmas shopping and paying your mortgage. About 20 contract employees working for the Voice of America’s TV Operations Division have not been paid since last November!

The exploitation of contract employees at VOA by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) executives, who make $170,000 a year and give themselves $10,000 bonuses, is one of many scandals in U.S. international broadcasting. The contract employees — who now constitute almost 50 percent of the VOA workforce — work full-time, have permanent assignments and work stations, have regular working schedules — and yet the BBG pays them at very low rates and denies them some of the most basic benefits, such as vacation, sick leave, health insurance, and pensions. BBG executives even prevented VOA contractors working alongside permanent employees from getting free flu shots until BBG Governor Victor Ashe intervened and got the IBB Director Richard Lobo to reverse this insane policy.

Delays in payments to BBG contractors are widespread throughout the organization, while top VOA and BBG executives are busy hiring their former CNN associates. (BBG Chairman Walter Isaacson is a former CNN executive, VOA Director David Ensor is a former CNN correspondent, RFE/RL President Steven Korn is a former CNN lawyer.) Other former CNN employees who now occupy top posts at BBG/VOA have discovered that in addition to giving full-time government jobs to their former CNN colleagues, they can also hire them as contractors, which is somewhat easier than getting them a federal job. One former CNN employee was hired in Florida as a contractor to do television interview bookings for VOA in Washington. Insiders described it to BBG Watch as a complete waste of government money since there are more than enough VOA employees in Washington to do this job.

Employees fear that the next step may be the firing of current contract employees to make room for more contractors with links to CNN. Keep in mind that contract employees at the BBG have practically no protection against arbitrary dismissal by BBG/VOA managers.

But there may be a silver lining. If enough former CNN employees are hired as contractors, perhaps their patrons will make sure that they are getting paid on time. BBG Watch suspects, however, that the friends of top BBG managers are being taken care of well enough even now. These CNN/BBG executives are just too busy taking care of their friends to take care of hundreds of other contract employees.

Here is an email sent to BBG Watch:

I work several wonderful television studio technicians — all contractors who are hitting walls in their efforts to get paid.

They would like to remain anonymous — all hope for staff positions one day — but if BBG Watch is interested I can have them write up a draft with names and particulars about the stalling they encounter from various offices when inquiring about their paychecks. Do you think this would be an issue of interest to Victor Ashe?

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