NLRB runs against “Marketplace” media production staffers

The National Labor Relations Board has ruled against the union attempting to represent “Marketplace” journalists, who sought to include its media production staffers in the union.

The vote to join the union will take place on March 30, with votes being due by April 21.

American Public Media, the parent company of the show, has not recognized the union.

Media producers are technical directors, sound designers and engineers working behind the scenes.

The staffers are working to unionize with SAG-AFTRA, which represents content employees at National Public Radio and employees at public radio stations across the country.

In addition to its flagship show, “Marketplace” has eight other shows, and hosts, reporters and other staffers have signed to unionize.

One thousand stations carry American Public Media’s 20-plus national programs. Its multi-regional station operations include 49 public radio stations and 42 translators in the Upper Midwest and California.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.