Turn off channel 8

TV viewers are being asked to turn off channel 8 until a contract is resolved.

Television viewers are being asked to turn off WROC-TV channel 8. Businesses are being asked to stop advertising on channel 8. Members of NABET-CWA Local 22, a broadcasters' union, have been without a contract since May 31. At issue, the employees are likely to lose money with the company's low wage increase offer and its demand that employees pay for their own disability insurance. WROC-TV is owned by Nexstar Broadcasting. Its employees are among the lowest-paid television workers in Rochester. Management has told its employees they can leave if they don't like their pay.

The National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET), a sector of the Communication Workers of America (CWA), is launching a highly visible advertising campaign to ask viewers to turn off WROC-TV.

NABET-CWA represents engineers, photo-journalists and technicians at two of Rochester's television stations. Other issues have included concerns over the aging building's safety, vacation scheduling and on-call issues