MUST READ
Hollywood Unions Call on AMPTP to Resume SAG-AFTRA Talks “Immediately”
The Hollywood Reporter
By Katie Kilkenny
Oct. 13, 2023
Major Hollywood unions are calling on the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to resume negotiations with SAG-AFTRA “immediately,” citing the suffering of industry professionals who are out of work. “Each day a fair contract addressing actors’ unique priorities is delayed is another day working professionals across our industry suffer unnecessarily,” said the Writers Guild of America, Directors Guild of America, IATSE, Teamsters, Hollywood Basic Crafts and American Federation of Musicians in a statement Friday. “At this point, it should be clear to the studios and the AMPTP that more is needed than proposals which merely replicate the terms negotiated with other unions,” the unions added, arguing that the AMPTP is essentially attempting to force pattern bargaining, or implement deal points from other unions’ contracts, on SAG-AFTRA. The unions continued, “We collectively demand the AMPTP resumes negotiations in good faith immediately, make meaningful moves at the negotiating table with SAG-AFTRA to address performers’ specific needs, and make the fair deal they deserve.”
JOINING TOGETHER
In solidarity with actors, other Hollywood unions demand studios resume negotiations
NPR
By Mandalit del Barco
Oct. 13, 2023
Hollywood's unions and guilds, including writers, directors and Teamsters, issued a joint statement Friday, demanding studios resume negotiations with the actor's union SAG-AFTRA. On the Today Show Friday, SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher said she's shocked the studios suspended contract bargaining indefinitely. "It's so wrong that they walked out of the meeting, and so disrespectful," she said. "They talk at you, they really don't want to hear what you have to say or why you're saying it." SAG-AFTRA, which represents 160,000 actors, dancers, stunt performers and voiceover actors, has been on strike since Mid-July, after the first round of negotiations stalled. They joined the picket lines with screenwriters in the Writers Guild of America, who were on strike nearly five months before making a deal with the AMPTP. After talks with the performers broke down this week, the WGA combined forces with the DGA, Teamsters, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, American Federation of Musicians, and Hollywood Basic Crafts locals to support SAG- AFTRA.
Woodland Pulp union workers to begin strike this weekend
News Center Maine
By News Center Maine Staff
Oct. 14, 2023
Workers at Baileyville's Woodland Pulp facility have announced they will be going on strike starting this weekend. Union members from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) Local 1490 began a strike just after midnight on Saturday, and Service Employees International Union Local 330-3 members are set to strike just after midnight on Sunday, according to a news release from the Maine AFL-CIO.
Kaiser Permanente reaches tentative contract with unions
The Washington Post
By Aaron Gregg
Oct. 13, 2023
Kaiser Permanente has reached a tentative contract with health-care workers, resolving a protracted labor dispute that was fueled by a dire shortage of nurses, specialists and other staffers following the coronavirus pandemic. The tentative deal follows a walkout last week by more than 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers, who staged what labor organizers billed as the largest strike of health-care workers in U.S. history. Unions have scrapped plans for a November strike, a Kaiser spokesperson said. The agreement still has to be ratified by workers in an Oct. 18 vote.
Columbia water distribution workers expected to get union recognition
KOMU
By Ezra Bitterman
Oct. 15, 2023
The Columbia City Council is expected to vote to voluntarily recognize water distribution workers as new members of LiUNA 955 — a union representing around 250 city workers — at Monday’s meeting. This summer, 22 out of 27 of the city’s water distribution workers voted to leave the Columbia Water & Light Department and join LiUNA, according to a city staff report. The Columbia Water and Light Department is not a union and does not have the power to collectively bargain for the workers, who are treated as other non-union city employees in terms of pay and other benefits.
Workers at New York’s Jewish Museum ratify their first union contract
The Art Newspaper
By Anni Irish
Oct. 13, 2023
Following more than a year of negotiations, on 12 October staff at the Jewish Museum in New York City announced they had ratified their first contract with an overwhelming majority voting in favour. Staff at the museum first announced their intention to unionise in early 2022, with a nearly unanimous vote to form a union held in May of that year. The museum’s bargaining unit consists of 90 people, a mix of full- and part-time workers spanning multiple departments including curatorial, retail, visitor services, art handling and more.
North Florida Central Labor Council joins Jacksonville UAW members on picket line Friday
News 4 Jax
By Aaron Farrar and Anne Maxwell
Oct. 13, 2023
The North Florida Central Labor Council and other groups joined local autoworkers on the picket line Friday in a show of solidarity. Members of the United Auto Workers at the Volvo parts distribution center on Jacksonville’s Westside walked out Monday morning over contract negotiations with Volvo subsidy Mack Trucks. The strike came after the UAW rejected a tentative five-year collective bargaining agreement for about 4,000 workers.
Union picketers send message to Las Vegas Strip resort owners: Show us the money
Las Vegas Sun
By Katie Ann McCarver
Oct. 13, 2023
The Las Vegas Strip was filled Thursday with the sound of thousands of Culinary Union members chanting mantras like “Las Vegas look around, Vegas is a union town” and drivers honking their horns in a show of support as local hospitality workers picketed for the first time in decades outside key resorts. The union, along with the Bartenders Union, picketed outside eight MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment properties after about six months of negotiations with both companies — as well as Wynn Resorts — have failed to produce a new five-year contract for employees. “These companies, they’re going to have to do the right thing. … These workers are doing their part,” Ted Pappageorge, secretary-treasurer and chief union negotiator, said outside Paris Las Vegas, where workers wearing varying shades of the union’s signature red marched in tandem, waving signs calling for a contract and chanting “union power.”
Kaiser union warns of potential pharmacy strike as bargaining continues
KATU
By KATU Staff
Oct. 14, 2023
The union representing Kaiser Permanente's pharmacy and imaging workers said there is still no deal with the hospital system. Bargaining will continue on Monday, however, the union says it's given notice that a pharmacy strike could start on October 23. Within the last few hours, a Kaiser spokesperson said they are committed to bargaining in good faith to reach an agreement. Meanwhile, Kaiser says it has reached a tentative deal with a coalition of unions representing 75,000 healthcare workers who went on strike last week.
‘Barbenheimer’ Was a Boon for Movie Theater Owners. Now Workers Are Unionizing
The San Francisco Standard
By Associated Press
Oct. 15, 2023
Quick and Trautman were among dozens at the Manhattan theater who decided it was time to form a union. Alamo employees worked with United Auto Workers Local 2179 and this week voted to unionize, with nearly two-thirds in favor. They join Alamo employees at the Brooklyn theater, who voted last month to become part of Local 2179. “We’re very excited to be moving forward in solidarity with Brooklyn," Quick said after the vote was announced. “We have strength in our numbers and hope to see some real change.”
IN THE STATES
‘It is time for us to change this’: Lawmakers weigh higher penalties for child labor abuse
Michigan Advance
By Kyle Davidson
Oct. 13, 2023
Members of the House Labor Committee on Monday took testimony on bills to further discourage companies from violating child labor laws. The legislation received support from a number of other organizations that did not speak, including the Michigan Department of Attorney General, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Michigan, the Michigan AFL-CIO, Michigan Immigrant Rights Center and Oakland Schools.