NBC Reporters at Odds With Union Local : Labor: The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists withdraws its threat to have dissident members at the network and KNBC fired for failure to pay higher dues.

A group of local TV journalists who refused to pay increased union dues won an 11th-hour reprieve Thursday from a threat by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) to strip them of their jobs unless they came up with the full amount by Tuesday.

The local chapter of AFTRA had said it would ask NBC to fire the dissident Los Angeles reporters “pursuant to the union security clause in the collective bargaining agreement with NBC” unless they paid up.

But an AFTRA letter faxed to the rebellious reporters shortly after noon Thursday said that “further communication between us is necessary before any action is taken. . . . Therefore, we have decided not to send notification to your employer of your dues delinquency until we have had the opportunity to talk further.”

“I’m glad cooler heads have prevailed,” said NBC correspondent Heidi Schulman, one of the dissidents. Added KNBC medical reporter Steve Gendel, an outspoken union member who had also received a letter with the firing threat: “I’m relieved that our backs are no longer against the wall. But it doesn’t relieve the underlying dispute.”

About 8 to 10 NBC employees--two at the network’s Burbank-based Los Angeles bureau and the remainder at KNBC News--were reportedly targeted for refusing to pay, but support for them by colleagues on future dues showdowns was virtually unanimous, sources said.

AFTRA spokeswoman Pamm Fair said that the Tuesday deadline for full dues payments has been called off. Mark Farber, executive director of the AFTRA local, said in the union’s letter Thursday that he would contact the journalists before the next meeting of the union’s board of directors May 17 “to discuss your concerns.”

A source said that the journalists had retained an attorney this week and were reported considering legal action against the union.

The dispute stems from a doubling of Los Angeles AFTRA dues last year so that workers who earn more than $150,000 must pay $2,000--twice the fee for members of the same union in New York and triple the payments of colleagues in Washington. A source noted, for instance, that Schulman must pay twice as much in annual dues as the network’s New York-based anchor, Tom Brokaw.

At KCBS Channel 2, reporter Ann Curry said that “there is sympathy” and support for the dissidents because of a longstanding feeling among local TV journalists that the AFTRA chapter isn’t geared for their needs, and is primarily “an actors’ union.” Sources said that broadcast journalists compose about 2% of the AFTRA membership here but pay roughly 16% of the dues.

“I’ve paid my dues,” said Don Oliver, another NBC network correspondent based here, but he added that he has aligned himself with his colleagues. “It’s not so much the money. It’s the principle of the thing. We’re being used.”

Farber said that the union’s structure--in which locals around the nation set their own dues--is being studied by a consultant: “We are acting swiftly to deal with those problems.”

NBC’s vice president for labor relations, Bernard Gehan, and KNBC had both declined comment on the dispute, saying it was strictly between the union and its members.

One source said that although KNBC’s reporters were unified on the issue, most or all of the front-line anchor personalities would probably remain on the air in any case because they had previously paid their dues. CBS and KCBS reporters have been less vocal as dissidents, and those of ABC and KABC Channel 7 have been the least active in the struggle, say colleagues.

According to the previous, threatening AFTRA letter, the union planned to start informing the network of the impending termination process if NBC and KNBC dissenters hadn’t paid their full dues by noon today.

Said one dissident: “Our complaint is that we have steady work and we’re paying for a lot of people who are in and out of jobs. And we don’t have a real say in matters. So we told the union we’re not going to put up with this.”

Furthering this unusual case of a union threatening to ask a network to fire its own members was the attempt of some high-priced dissidents to pay dues based strictly on scale, the minimum wage negotiated by AFTRA for their contract. The dues for scale reportedly are $446.

“Scale is what AFTRA earns for us,” said one protester. “But virtually everybody is over scale. And I claim that that money was gotten for me by an agent, not AFTRA, and they can’t bill me for dues based on that.”

AFTRA claims that the Los Angeles local was “running in the red and was in dire need” of a dues increase, “not having had one for seven years.” Farber also argued that AFTRA “fights for its members in various ways,” from retirement benefits to health-and-welfare payments.

Still, belonging to what is essentially a union for show-business talent is the sticking point for many journalist members of the Los Angeles AFTRA chapter. “Every time we discuss the union,” says Curry, “someone asks, ‘Why are we in there with those actors?’ ”

There is, in fact, talk of starting a separate union.