JOINING TOGETHER
'The Simpsons' production workers go union, saying they deserve a place at the table
NPR
By Andrew Limbong
July 1, 2022
Production workers at the long-running animated television shows The Simpsons, American Dad! and Family Guy have gained voluntary recognition from their parent company, 20th Television Animation, to join The Animation Guild. According to a statement from the union, "the production workers won with 90% support across all three shows." Workers said they are hoping to receive benefits, such as health care and retirement, but also to change the way production work is seen in the industry.
TriMet, transit workers union tentatively agree to extend contract to 2024
The Oregonian
By Jayati Ramakrishnan
July 1, 2022
TriMet is expected to extend the labor contract for its workers until 2024, adding automatic pay raises for the drivers and mechanics it covers. The agreement announced Wednesday marks an unusually amicable round of negotiations between the transit agency and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 757. The current contract was inked in April 2021 after a year-and-a-half impasse.
Hard Rock Deal Ends Casino Strike Threat in Atlantic City
NBC Philadelphia
By Wayne Parry
July 3, 2022
The Hard Rock casino reached agreement with Atlantic City's main casino workers union on Saturday, removing the last threat of a strike during the busy holiday weekend and clearing the way for the gambling halls and their workers to concentrate on bouncing back from financial losses during the coronavirus pandemic. Local 54 of the Unite Here union said it reached a tentative agreement with Hard Rock, avoiding a strike that had been threatened for 12:01 a.m. Sunday. Combined with agreements reached Thursday with the Borgata, Caesars, Harrah's and the Tropicana, Hard Rock's deal leaves only two smaller casinos, Resorts and the Golden Nugget, without a contract. But the union said it expects both of them to agree to one in the coming days.
RAISING WAGES
Minimum wage petition says it has signatures needed to appear on November ballot
Hastings Tribune
By Chris Dunker
July 1, 2022
Organizers of a petition drive seeking to raise Nebraska's minimum wage to $15 per hour say they have gathered the signatures needed to put the issue on the November ballot. Raise the Wage Nebraska said in a news release Friday it has collected more than 130,000 signatures across the state a week before the July 7 deadline for submitting names to Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen. Raise the Wage Nebraska is a coalition including the ACLU of Nebraska, Nebraska Appleseed, the Nebraska State AFL-CIO and the NAACP Lincoln Branch.
TRANSPORTATION
Letters citing rail service crisis continue to circulate at STB
Progressive Railroading
July 1, 2022
Meanwhile, the Transportation Trades Department (TTD) of the AFL-CIO on June 28 called on U.S. senators to encourage Congress to better define the "reasonable service" portion of railroads' common-carrier obligations and to grant the STB a more effective process to help shippers obtain "reasonable service" from freight railroads. "We recognize that the STB has utilized its existing authority to respond to the service problems and appreciate all that the agency has done," wrote TTD President Greg Regan. "However, additional action is needed to address the continuing and serious nature of these service problems and the railroads’ failure to act willfully to fix the problems that they created."
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
President Joe Biden to honor Nemacolin native Richard Trumka with the Presidential Medal of Freedom
CBS Pittsburgh
By Patrick Damp
July 2, 2022
The Nemacolin native who led the labor movement for decades will be posthumously honored with the nation's highest civilian award - the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Richard Trumka died last August at the age of 72 and President Joe Biden will honor Trumka's life and work along with that of 16 other awardees including Simone Biles, Megan Rapinoe, and the late John McCain.