OINING TOGETHER
Exclusive: Delta offers pilots hefty pay raises as unions flex bargaining power
Reuters
By Rajesh Kumar Singh and David Shepardson
Dec. 3, 2022
Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) has offered a 34% cumulative pay increase to its pilots over three years in a new contract, demonstrating the bargaining power aviators are enjoying in a short-staffed industry with booming travel demand.
Woodland Pulp mill workers will vote on whether to strike this week
Maine Public
By Robbie Feinberg
Dec. 5, 2022
Workers at the Woodland Pulp mill in Baileyville will start voting Monday on whether to accept a contract offer or go on strike. Members of United Steelworkers Local 27 have been negotiating with the company for months on a new contract. Union representatives say they're looking for regular wage increases, as well as a cost-of-living adjustment, in the face of high inflation. The members say they've stayed on the job, even in the midst of the worst of the pandemic.
CS undergraduate TAs announce plans to form union
The Brown Daily Herald
By Sam Levine
Dec. 5, 2022
A group of undergraduate computer science teaching assistants have announced their intentions to form a union, according to a press release from an organizing committee shared with The Herald Monday morning. In an Instagram post, the organizers called upon the Brown community to join them at a public rally Thursday at noon on the Main Green. Organizers told The Herald that they will then present the University with a letter asking them to voluntarily recognize the union.
After 3 Decades, Yale Graduate Workers Are Finally Unionizing
The Nation
By Yash Roy
Dec. 5, 2022
For Clare Fentress and other graduate student workers at Yale University, unionization would help secure livable wages, better health care, and independent grievance systems. But most importantly, forming a union will cement the recognition—long denied to thousands of graduate workers in the United States—that they, too, are workers who deserve labor rights and protections. Fentress, a student at the Yale School of Architecture, and 4,000 of her peers at Yale came one step closer to this goal last week after casting their ballots in a union election. Because grad workers also have the opportunity to vote by mail, the full results will not be known until January 9, but Local 33-UNITE HERE is widely expected to prevail—a historic victory after over 30 years of organizing.
Video Game Workers Launch Union Drive at Microsoft-Owned ZeniMax Studios
The Hollywood Reporter
By Katie Kilkenny
Dec. 5, 2022
Workers at Microsoft-owned video game developer ZeniMax Studios are organizing and attempting to form the first U.S. union at the tech giant. About 300 quality assurance (QA) workers at The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle developer are attempting to join the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the union announced on Monday. The workers are based at company sites in Hunt Valley and Rockville, Maryland and Austin and Dallas, Texas. Per the CWA, Microsoft has agreed to voluntarily recognize the union if a majority of the ZeniMax Studios workers vote to join in a card count.
Video Game Workers at Microsoft and Activision Take Steps to Unionize
The New York Times
By Noam Scheiber and Kellen Browning
Dec. 5, 2022
A few months after Microsoft announced plans to acquire the video game maker Activision Blizzard, the tech giant said it would remain neutral if Activision workers sought to unionize once the deal went through. Now, a major union is testing Microsoft’s appetite for organizing at a company it already owns. A group of more than 300 employees at ZeniMax Media, a Maryland-based video game maker owned by Microsoft, has begun voting on whether to form the company’s only union in the United States.
Union says Microsoft will recognize unit of videogame testers
Reuters
By Daniel Wiessner
Dec. 5, 2022
Voluntarily agreeing to bargain with the union would allow Microsoft to avoid a formal election overseen by the U.S. National Labor Relations Board and the legal battles that often ensue. CWA President Christopher Shelton applauded Microsoft's move in a statement, saying "when workers have the opportunity to join a union without company interference, it empowers them to have their voices heard in the workplace."
Nickelodeon Production Workers Vote To Unionize With The Animation Guild
Deadline
By David Robb
Dec. 5, 2022
Production workers at Nickelodeon Studios have voted to unionize with The Animation Guild, IATSE Local 839. According to the guild, 65% of the studio’s 177 production managers, production coordinators, postproduction assistants, art production coordinators and asset coordinators have signed cards saying they want to be represented by the guild.
Painters District Council 58 celebrates the 135th anniversary of IUPAT
Labor Tribune
Dec. 5, 2022
Painters District Council 58 is celebrating the 135th anniversary of the International Union of the Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT), formed in 1887, with a trip down memory lane of Council 58’s success over the years. “As the union expanded, the idea of the word ‘local’ under the umbrella of a District Council caught on,” said Joe Mueller, District Council 58 assistant business manager of Missouri. “The idea was to provide local and regional union offices so members could attend meetings without having to drive long distances.”
Charlotte’s WFAE Becomes First Unionized Pubcaster In Carolinas.
Inside Radio
Dec. 5, 2022
The content staff of University Radio Foundation, Inc.'s WFAE (90.7) Charlotte have officially formed a union, becoming the first unionized public radio station in the Carolinas. A neutral third party verified that more than 70% of WFAE’s content creators signed union authorization cards with the intent to be officially represented by SAG-AFTRA. Based on those results, WFAE management agreed to voluntarily recognize the union. That means content employees at the award-winning NPR affiliate can now begin negotiating a collective bargaining agreement with station management.
POLITICS
Saturday Rally with Warnock in Atlanta (Video)
NBC News
Dec. 3, 2022
Watch the Saturday Rally with Sen. Warnock in Atlanta.
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
First IBEW Local 1 RENEW chili and rib cook-off a huge success
Labor Tribune
Dec. 5, 2022
The first IBEW Local 1 Reach-out and Engage Next-Gen Electrical Workers (RENEW) Chili and Rib Competition was a huge success. Proceeds from the Nov. 19 event, held at the Local 1 union hall in St. Louis, will benefit the union’s Electrical Minority Workers Caucus coat drive for kids. In addition to the tasty chili and ribs prepared by Local 1 members, the event also featured comradery, cornhole and raffles.