JOINING TOGETHER
Actors’ Equity Members Rally for Better Understudy Coverage, Sick Leave on Broadway
The Hollywood Reporter
By Caitlin Huston
Nov. 17, 2022
Members of Actors’ Equity gathered in Times Square on Thursday to rally for new protections in their Broadway contract. Of particular issue was the need for more understudies and swings on Broadway productions. The demand on these actors has always been high, but has recently been exacerbated by the pandemic, as actors have been thrown into roles they do not know to cover for COVID-19 cases in the cast. The pandemic also caused many members to rethink industry norms and push for a better work-life balance and safeguards within the industry.
A Union Yes vote changed my life
Yale News
By Amelia Prostano
Nov. 17, 2022
It’s a special thing to get to vote in a union representation election. You’re lucky if it happens once in your life, as it did for me in 1984 when I voted for what would become Local 34, the clerical and technical workers’ union at Yale. That vote changed my life, and that union made me who I am. I want to share some of that experience for the members of Local 33, so they can reflect on what this moment means for them.
Fairfax Co. first responders vote to unionize for the first time in 40 years
WTOP
By Ivy Lyons
Nov. 19, 2022
Firefighters and paramedics in Fairfax County, Virginia, became the first group in 40 years to unionize Friday, after members totaled more than 3,300 24-hour days of mandatory overtime in just one calendar year. The vote was announced by the union in a press release, stating that the roughly 1,500 emergency personnel would be the first public sector employees in over four decades to enter a collective bargaining agreement. Until 2021, employees in the public sector couldn’t legally unionize. That changed in Fairfax County in early 2022, when the jurisdiction passed an ordinance that allowed state employees to collectively bargain. “Just as importantly, this win puts us in a position to ensure we are providing the best services to the members of our community,” International Association of Firefighters 2068 president Robert Young said.
UAW Picketing Continues at UCLA and All UC Campuses
LA Progressive
By Mark Friedman
Nov. 20, 2022
As the sun rises over the UCA campus, hundreds of UAW members from several bargaining units are on the picket line. This is day four of their strike statewide at 10 Campuses, representing 48,000 researchers, Teaching Assistants and graduate students. The system is gigantic with 280,000 students and 230,000 faculty and staff. This strike, a year and 50 bargaining sessions in the making, is the largest at any academic institution in history. The workers, perform the majority of teaching and research in the state’s premier university system. Their unified action, pickets, support from professors and overwhelming majority of students, triggered canceled classes, shuttered labs weeks before final exams. The strike also included workers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
IN THE STATES
Right-to-work isn't working for Michigan (Opinion)
Detroit Free Press
By Steven Greenhouse
Nov. 19, 2022
Michigan Democrats scored historic victories in the midterm elections, taking control of the state House, Senate, and the governor’s mansion for the first time since 1983. The wins were thanks, at least in part, to the Democrats’ pro-worker, pro-jobs agenda. Now it’s time for Democrats to show that their pro-worker agenda isn’t just talk. One good way to do that would be for the legislature, as a first order of business, to repeal Michigan’s decade-old right-to-work law. By getting rid of a law that weakened Michigan’s labor unions, Democratic lawmakers would make a powerful statement that they are ready and eager to help workers win higher wages and better benefits.
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
Local firefighters ask for donations in annual 'Fill the Boot' drive
KRCR
By Taylor Baker
Nov. 20,2022
For 68 years, the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) has collected critical funds in the community – one dollar at a time – as part of the Fill the Boot program. CAL FIRE/Tehama County Fire will be continuing this long-standing tradition as its members kick off the annual Fill the Boot program to raise critical funds to help transform the lives of kids and adults with muscular dystrophy, ALS, and related muscle-debilitating diseases.