JOINING TOGETHER
SAG-AFTRA and Netflix Reach Tentative Deal on New Contract
The Hollywood Reporter
By Katie Kilkenny
Aug. 2, 2022.
SAG-AFTRA and Netflix have reached a tentative deal on a new contract to replace the novel agreement they penned in 2019. The performers’ union announced the tentative deal — which will now go to the union’s National Board and, later, to members for approval — on Tuesday. The National Board will next meet and discuss the agreement on August 8. No other details were available about the pact at this time. The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to Netflix for comment.
Denverite
By Matt Bloom and Eden Lane
Aug. 2, 2022
Workers at Meow Wolf’s Convergence Station exhibit in Denver have officially formed a union after voting in favor of the move Monday night. The union won a “super-majority” of support from roughly 200 workers to form a local chapter of the Communication Workers of America, according to a statement from CWA. The chapter — the Meow Wolf Workers Collective — will be made up of two bargaining units representing the museum’s security and operations staff separately. The company said it voluntarily recognized the new Denver union through a process called an authorization card check — where workers presented their union cards Monday to a third party, who confirmed they had a majority of workers signed on. The process serves as an alternative to the more traditional process of forming a union through an election held by federal regulators.
Striking MetroAccess drivers turn down latest offer; no new negotiations before next week
WTOP
By John Domen
Aug. 2, 2022
When a striking MetroAccess driver showed up to meet with Transdev negotiators Tuesday morning, he was optimistic. “I thought there would be a different proposal put on the table, maybe a little increase,” said that driver, Tim Hollingsworth of ATU Local 689. “But it was the same thing as prior.” It was an offer that he said they’ve rejected multiple times already: “The exact same thing.” And for him and others who gathered along Hubbard Road in the Glenarden area of Prince George’s County, Maryland — outside the office where they normally show up for work — that wasn’t good enough. Tuesday’s meeting didn’t last very long.
ShadowMachine Post-Production Staffers Unionize With Editors Guild
Deadline
By Erik Pedersen
Aug. 2, 2022
About two dozen post-production workers at ShadowMachine, the animation studio behind Tuca & Bertie, Robot Chicken and BoJack Horseman, have unionized with the Motion Picture Editors Guild. The move became official through a card-check process verified by a neutral third party. It marks the Editors Guild’s fifth organizing win in animation in the pasts four years, following successful efforts at Bento Box, Nickelodeon and elsewhere. “We are pleased to welcome the workers at ShadowMachine to the Guild family,” said Alan Heim, president of the Editors Guild, IATSE Local 700. “Animation plays a huge and growing role in the entertainment industry, and too often the talented craftspeople who create it don’t enjoy the same union protections bestowed on their live-action counterparts. Our guild is working hard to change that, and we’re excited that ShadowMachine is part of the story.”
Museum, library workers form new University of Michigan union
MLive
By Samuel Dodge
Aug. 2, 2022
More than 200 workers who staff University of Michigan museums and libraries have formed a new union. The workers are employed in the information resource departments at all three UM campuses, according to a release from the American Federation of Teachers. The union will be known as University Staff United, or AFT Michigan Local 284. The motivation to unionize was spurred by other benefits won by other UM unions, said Samuel Simpson, who works on the Ann Arbor campus.
After calling off strike, 2,500 Boeing workers to vote on contract Wednesday
ABC News
By Max Zahn
Aug. 2, 2022
Nearly 2,500 Boeing workers at three St. Louis-area facilities will vote Wednesday on a contract offer from the plane manufacturer after calling off a strike planned for earlier this week. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, or IAMAW, is recommending that workers approve the new offer and expects the contract to be ratified, Jody Bennett, chief of staff of the IAMAW Aerospace Department, told ABC News. "We didn't get everything we wanted where we wanted it but I believe we got everything out of Boeing that we could," Bennett said. "It's time to live to fight another day."
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
Union leaders plead to increase criminal charges after Metro bus driver assaulted
WOWT
By 6 News staff reports
July 29, 2022
A Metro bus driver was attacked but while Metro won’t comment, the police and the bus driver’s union will. Like many streets in Omaha, Metro buses travel through 14th and Farnam all the time. But things were different just after 6 a.m. on July 22. A bus driver pleaded with dispatch to call 911. She was being attacked. Here’s how the bus drivers union president described it. “She was just sitting at her layover and six teenagers came up, they were fighting among themselves, they got off the bus, they tried to get her off and started punching her,” said Joe Boncordo, president of Transport Workers Union 223. Tracking the radio dispatch at that time and medics arrived 12 minutes later. “They don’t want us to call 911 directly, they want us to call dispatch and let them handle it,” said Boncordo.