I’m a union worker, and devoted to labor and immigrant rights. I’m running for the Local Station Board with Justice and Unity (www.justiceunity.org) because restoring WBAI to its mission in both worker relations and programming is an urgent necessity. I also want to increase two-way communication with the Latino communities.
wellington@justiceunity.org, 212-591-2111
I’m proudly running for the Local Station Board with Justice and Unity (www.justiceunity.org). WBAI is a key source for community education and organizing; we must work to restore local autonomy, programming, and integrity, so that WBAI can continue its leadership role in the fulfillment of its mission.
I’m an electrician and member of IBEW International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 3. Over the years, I’ve organized around many sociopolitical issues. For more than 30 years, I was a staff member (and at one time chair) of the Centro de Educación de Trabajadores, where I taught Spanish and math and deepened my understanding of the reality of many Latin American immigrant groups. I’m now a member of the May 1 Immigrant Rights Coalition, Bail Out the People, the South Bronx Congress, Cuba Solidarity NY, and the San Romero Church, and a part of the other struggles for the integration of South America and the Caribbean.
I was born in Ibarra, Ecuador, and forced to leave at the age of 18 after confronting repression of the labor movement there. Being an immigrant and a worker in New York has made me sensitive to how workers are treated and how power can be seized without due process, as happened last year at WBAI with the firing of Program Director Bernard White; the removal of General Manager Anthony Riddle; the imposition of a gag rule to quell dissent; the growing list of staff and listeners barred from the station for purely political reasons; and the removal of other Black and Latino staff throughout the Pacifica network. Management has been imposed on us from California—and recently, an open partisan of the LSB majority group (“ACE”) was appointed interim General Manager. None of the several station managers imposed since May 2009 have honored the Unpaid Staff Organizing Committee’s contract, and all have refused to respond to grievances brought on behalf of producers unfairly removed from the air.
WBAI is the most important radio station in the New York City area—and the only one that takes a strong stand on human-rights issues like immigrants’ rights, health care, housing, police misconduct, and socioeconomic inequities. But unlike in the past, current management has failed to provide much-needed extended coverage of major world events such as the Haitian earthquake, the Israeli attack on the humanitarian flotilla, and the BP oil spill—which could build the station’s audience. Radio is a special tool for bringing us the progressive voices of Latin America, Haiti, and places throughout the world. We must work to restore WBAI’s autonomy and return it to its mission and to make it strong!
Please vote for me and my Justice and Unity colleagues in this order:
1. Bernard White
2. Suzanne Adely
3. John Brinkley
4. Father Lawrence Lucas
5. Ray Laforest
6. Wellington Echegaray
7. Sharonne Salaam
8. Linda Bergnes
9. Myriam Decime
10. Carlos Canales
11. Sarah Klepner
12. Henry Hagins
13. Eugene Hamond
¡Gracias!
“Hasta la victoria siempre” – Che Guevara
wellington@justiceunity.org, 212-591-2111
1. Why do you want to be on the Local Station Board (LSB)?
Pacifica Radio has provided comprehensive coverage of many struggles against capitalism and in favor of democracy in places like Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, and Nicaragua, as well as throughout the rest of the world. WBAI is the only radio station in the New York City area that takes a strong stand on human rights, immigrants’ rights, health care, housing, police misconduct, and social and economic inequities. I am especially proud to run for the board as part of the Justice and Unity slate (www.justiceunity.org), because all of us share a strong commitment to keeping WBAI focused on covering those issues and making sure that oppressed communities’ voices are heard. I am especially interested in extending and strengthening the links between WBAI and the Latino community in our struggles.
2. How do you envision the LSB working with the Pacifica Foundation, WBAI staff and listener members?
We should work with mutual respect and harmoniously, where possible. The LSB should have excellent relations with the staff and Pacifica Foundation, and act on the belief that unity is always a better way for WBAI, but the issue of our local autonomy is especially important at a time when the central office of the network has taken control of our station. For its part, the Local Station Board must adhere to its role as a governance board and refrain from attempting to manage the station.
As a Latino living in the New York City area, I would like to contribute to working with the community by reaching out to increase involvement of the Latino community with the station.
3. How can WBAI better serve the community? Please define community.
WBAI can best serve its community by maintaining its autonomy. The Latin American community needs to have more representation and more programs, and the general community needs to hear more about such issues as the BP oil spill, job programs, and the economic crisis. In addition, we should practice what we preach: honor workers’ contracts, including the Unpaid Staff Organizing Committee’s contract, and adhere to the bylaws by making sure that people are not removed from their jobs without due process.
4. Describe some actions you would take to increase the influence of the station in underrepresented communities and to increase the diversity of the listening
audience.
I am especially proud of the Spanish-language programming on WBAI – Informativo Pacífica and La Voz Latina. The station can build on this kind of outreach via the Internet, where there could be programs broadcast in many languages. WBAI could also use its side channels for programming in other languages, and with new technologies the station could find even more ways to give more communities a greater voice. Again, the issue of local autonomy is key – without local autonomy, we will not be speaking to any local audience. As long as local autonomy is assured, the station can serve underrepresented communities better by reaching out to them and going to them to ask their opinions about what issues concern them. There should be town hall meetings in different areas, and station representatives should attend community meetings and events and try to get articles in newspapers aimed at particular populations. These are activities that I would like to participate in as a board member. And I especially would like to work on building the audience within the Latino community, and building Latino involvement with the station.
5. What sources of funding, other than listener donations, do you feel WBAI should solicit? Do you have any ideas with respect to improving the current funding mechanisms?
I would like to work on a revived Membership, Outreach and Fundraising Committee that could help come up with new fundraising ideas. We should definitely not accept corporate underwriting.
6. Please state briefly the skills, experience, educational background, work history, organizational affiliations, areas of community service, areas of interest and expertise that you would bring to the Pacifica network as a member of the Local Station Board.
Over the years, I have had the opportunity to organize around various social and political issues. I’m a peaceful person, a good listener and organizer, and love working cooperatively in groups. I’m active in the community, and in my over 30 years of serving the community, I have learned how to listen to people’s needs, organize to meet short- and long-term goals, and empower people. In particular, my experience as chair of the Centro de Educación de Trabajadores (Workers’ Education Center, CET), which serves many types of people, and where I worked for many years, gave me very good skills in working with diverse groups of people in a respectful way.
My experience as an immigrant from Latin America, a worker, and a union member has given me a strong perspective on the issues and needs facing the many people in our area who are in those categories. I have taught Spanish as a second language, as well as electricity and math. Since 1982, I’ve worked as an electrician for various contractors and have been a member of IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers), Local 3.
I’m currently a member of the Cuban Solidarity Committee of New York, which holds activities supporting the Cuban revolution and demonstrations against the U.S. blockade of Cuba, and supports the Cuban 5 and the campaign for wives without visas. We also support many different struggles and conferences about working-class issues. I’m also a member of the May 1st Coalition, Bail Out the People, the South Bronx Congress, and San Romero Church. My contribution of solidarity with the peoples of Ecuador, Venezuela, Honduras, and Colombia has given me the opportunity to understand the struggle better and work more successfully in a collective setting.
7. On which Local Station Board committees are you interested in actively serving? If you are a current Local Station Board member, on which committees do you currently serve?
I would especially like to join the Membership, Outreach, and Fundraising Committee at WBAI. Unfortunately, the current Board majority has allowed this committee to relegate these responsibilities to a task force that has done little. I will advocate that the board revive the committee, which was very active when Justice and Unity was the board majority.
8. If you are currently on the Board and wish to be re-elected please describe your 3 year experience on the LSB. What did you accomplish? What were the obstacles you faced? Do you envision any change in the next three years if you are re-elected?
Not applicable.
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