US labor board orders CNN to rehire fired workers

WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Labor Relations Board is finding against the CNN cable television network in an 11-year-old labor dispute, ordering the network to rehire or compensate about 300 workers and former workers.

The NLRB agreed with a November 2008 ruling by one of its administrative judges that CNN improperly replaced a unionized subcontractor, Team Video Services (TVS), with in-house non-union staffers, claiming "anti-union" bias.

The board gave CNN 14 days to rehire the former TVS employees for "their former positions or, if those jobs no longer exist, to substantially equivalent positions."

It also told CNN to pay bargaining union employees for any adverse tax consequences that may result from the lump-sum reimbursements.

A CNN statement said the network disagrees with the NLRB decision and is evaluating options.