August 19, 2008

New York City, NY – Facing a growing number of serious violations of wage and hour laws, the pressure is building on FremantleMedia as the nationwide American Idol Truth Tour wrapped up with a final stop today at the company's New York City corporate headquarters.

At the rally attended by approximately 150 supporters, including union members from the Teamsters, Writers Guilds of America, East and West, and the United Auto Workers, former FremantleMedia workers and their supporters demanded that the American Idol producer improve working conditions and provide industry-standard pay and benefits to its employees.

FremantleMedia's American Idol is the highest-rated show on TV, but while the company reaps huge profits from it and other primetime programs such as America’s Got Talent (NBC), Million Dollar Password (CBS), and Farmer Wants a Wife (CW), its writers and other behind-the-scenes workers often endure substandard and illegal working conditions.

Hundreds of fliers and T-shirts were distributed to supporters and New Yorkers who stopped to learn more about the American Idol Truth Tour.

Michael Prescott, a former writer on another FremantleMedia-produced show Temptation, was awarded $14,000 in overtime wages and penalties by the California State Labor Commissioner. In addition, a group of FremantleMedia employees is waiting to hear about claims they have filed with the California Labor Commissioner totaling more than $250,000. The claims involve multiple wage and hour violations, including unpaid overtime, failure to provide state-mandated meal or rest periods, and a denial of basic worker rights.

Co-sponsored by the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW), the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), the month-long Truth Tour has traveled coast to coast following this season’s Idol auditions, including stops in San Francisco, Phoenix, San Juan, and Jacksonville, where tour members held rallies and leafleted thousands of American Idol contestants to raise awareness of the mistreatment of the people who help make these shows so successful.

"Reality is not what Fremantle puts up on the screen. Reality is the way it mistreats and underpays its employees,” said WGAE President Michael Winship at the rally in front of Fremantle’s headquarters. “Drivers and others work exhausting hours, seven days a week for no overtime, without benefits, pensions or even breaks for meals. All this while Fremantle thrives on revenues of $1.8 billion a year.”

Speaking at today’s action, WGAW President Patric M. Verrone told the crowd, “Even though New York is the last stop on the American Idol Truth Tour, the struggle to obtain industry standard wages and benefits for these workers will continue when the show returns to Hollywood.”

Former American Idol production coordinator Justin Buckles recounted his grueling work schedule laboring behind-the-scenes on the hit Fox show for over three years: “When I was hired I was told to expect to work 12 hour days. What I wasn’t told was that it would actually be 15 to 20 hour days, many times working seven days a week,” Buckles said. “For all my work I was paid a flat weekly rate of $550. When I did the math it came out to less than $4.50 an hour.”

“Responsible production companies use experienced union drivers to transport the contestants and other production staff of these shows. Fremantle has chosen to exploit its drivers who are often forced to work excessive overtime without proper rest periods,” said Tom O’Donnell Jr., Secretary-Treasurer, Teamsters Local 817, at the rally in midtown Manhattan.

For more information about the American Idol Truth Tour, please visit: www.truthaboutfremantle.com.

The Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) represent writers in the motion picture, broadcast, cable, and new media industries in both entertainment and news. The unions conduct numerous programs, seminars, and events throughout the world on issues of interest to, and on behalf of, writers. For more information on the WGAW, please visit www.wga.org. For more information on the WGAE, please visit www.wgaeast.org.

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. For more information, please visit www.teamster.org.