CNN is a purveyor of not just fake news, but fake progressivism. The Left generally pretends to care about the downtrodden little guys and gals — you know, the kind of folks who need a union to stand up for them when dealing with ruthless employers — but all too often, that's just P.R .eyewash. Thanks to a late Friday afternoon announcement, when news that is intended to be buried is released, we learn that CNN has shattered the record for back pay settlements with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Even worse, from the progressive viewpoint, CNN's cheating of its workers took place in a union-busting effort.

Cynthia Littleton reports for Variety:

CNN has agreed to pay $76 million to settle a back pay case involving union workers that marks the largest "monetary remedy" in the 85-year history of National Labor Relations Board. The dispute began in 2003 when CNN fired a group of unionized subcontractors working as video technicians and in other technical and support roles.

CNN replaced the unionized workers with what progs call "scabs." The two unions that represented the fired workers, National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians and Communications Workers of America, litigated and brought in the NLRB.

CNN responded with what Variety calls a "paperwork war" that lasted almost 17 years until finally agreeing to the record settlement.



CNN Center in Atlanta (photo credit: Ken Lund).

With 300 workers involved, the settlement works out to an average of over a quarter million dollars per employee who was part of the group.

Progressives rarely practice what they preach when their own self-interest is at stake. Or, as Robert Conquest famously put it, "Everyone is conservative about what he knows best."

Hat tip: Roger Luchs.