JOINING TOGETHER
MLB owners unanimously ratify CBA with minor league players
ABC News
By Jeff Passan
April 3, 2023
Major League Baseball owners voted unanimously to ratify the new collective bargaining agreement with minor league players, formalizing the landmark agreement that will more than double player salaries. Players late last week overwhelmingly voted in favor of the tentative agreement, with thousands backing a deal that also improved housing, transportation and medical rights of players. Upon the players' ratification of the agreement, MLBPA executive director Tony Clark said in a statement: "The agreement represents a giant step forward in treating minor league players as the elite professional athletes that they are. It's a historic day for these players, their families and the entire player fraternity."
Actors’ Equity Issues Strike Threat for Broadway National Tours
The Hollywood Reporter
By Caitlin Huston
April 3, 2023
Actors’ Equity has issued a strike threat against The Broadway League. The union, which represents more than 51,000 stage managers and actors, has been bargaining with The Broadway League, which represents industry producers, presenters and general managers, since mid-January to create a new touring contract. Now, Actors’ Equity has authorized executive director Al Vincent Jr., its lead negotiator, to call a strike on all Broadway national tours, if he deems it necessary, after the union says it ran into roadblocks around a number of key issues. “We thought we were making progress. Actually, we believed that perhaps we would reach a deal last week, but ultimately, we just were nowhere close in terms of what we know our members need and what the Broadway League was willing to offer,” Actors’ Equity President Kate Shindle told The Hollywood Reporter on Monday.
Chicago REI Workers File Retailer's 4th Union Petition
Law360
By Emily Brill
April 3, 2023
Workers at the REI store in Lincoln Park, Chicago, have taken steps to unionize, filing a petition with the National Labor Relations Board indicating their desire to affiliate with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. If the organizing drive succeeds, the Chicago REI will be the fourth location of the retailer — which sells clothing and equipment used for outdoor activities — to unionize. The staff of REI's New York City and Cleveland stores are represented by the RWDSU, while the staff of the company's Berkeley, California, store is represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers. RWDSU spokeswoman Chelsea Connor said one of the key issues the Chicago workers organized around was fairness in scheduling, as many employees aren't assigned to work enough hours to ensure consistency in their earnings. "At this store, there's a particular concern around scheduling fairness and hours, so it's less wages and more ensuring there's enough hours to have spare wages," Connor said, noting that wages were an issue in the Cleveland and New York City campaigns.
Chicago State University Faculty, Staff Begin Strike Monday
WTTW
By Matt Masterson
April 3, 2023
Faculty and staff at Chicago State University will begin a strike Monday after nearly a year of negotiations have failed to lead to a new labor agreement. The Chicago State University chapter of the University Professionals of Illinois (CSU UPI) authorized a potential strike last month, and after the latest bargaining session Saturday didn’t lead to a new contract, members decided to begin a work stoppage Monday. “We have made it clear all along that we expect the CSU administration to prioritize the needs of our students by offering fair and equitable compensation for the faculty who serve them,” CSU UPI President Valerie Goss said in a statement. “Even as our strike deadline approached, they refused to do so. The administration has pushed us to this point – we didn’t want it to come to this. Now we must do what is necessary to provide our students with the education and support they deserve. We must strike.”
Actors' Equity May Strike Over Broadway Touring Contract
Playbill
By Logan Culwell-Block
April 3, 2023
Actors' Equity Association, representing professional actors and stage managers, has authorized its Executive Director Al Vincent, Jr. to call a strike of all Broadway national tours following an impasse in negotiations with The Broadway League, representing producers and theatre owners. If the strike happens, touring productions will come to a halt. The move follows a protracted battle—negotiations began in January—between the two organizations over the touring contract, which expired February 5. Equity has been seeking to win increases in per diem payments to cover housing and food costs when its members are on the road, sufficient coverage for stage managers and actors (for when they're sick and can't work), and wage increases reflecting the current cost of living. The union hopes it will be able to establish a newly unified touring contract.
Disney Production Workers March at Burbank Lot With Animation Guild to Demand Unionization
The Wrap
By Jeremy Fuster
April 3, 2023
The Animation Guild (IATSE Local 839) staged what it called a “solidarity walk” around Walt Disney Studios in Burbank with dozens of the studio’s animation production workers in protest of Disney’s refusal to voluntarily recognize its unionization efforts. More than 100 animation workers and artists gathered in front of the Roy E. Disney Animation Building for a rally and marched along the streets adjacent to the studio before presenting Disney’s labor relations counsel Mark Stubbington with a petition signed by over 10,000 animators calling on Disney to recognize its production workers’ wishes to be included as part of the Disney Animation bargaining unit and to receive the benefits of its labor contract, which include higher wages and healthcare.
NLRB
Blizzard May Face Labor Board Action Over Union’s Allegations
Bloomberg
By Cecilia D'Anastasio
March 31, 2023
A regional director of the US labor board found merit in union allegations that video-game maker Blizzard Entertainment illegally monitored employees during a walkout and that the company threatened to shut down internal communication channels where employees discussed labor conditions. National Labor Relations Board officials plan to issue a complaint against Blizzard, a division of gaming giant Activision Blizzard Inc., if the company and the Communications Workers of America are unable to reach a settlement, agency spokeswoman Kayla Blado said Friday in an email. The case would then go to an administrative law judge. A third CWA allegation that the company broke labor law by cutting off access to a chat channel was withdrawn.
Tesla and Musk Lose Ruling on Factory Union Issues
The New York Times
By Noam Scheiber
March 31, 2023
A federal appeals court on Friday affirmed a finding that Tesla illegally fired an employee involved in union organizing, and that the company’s chief executive, Elon Musk, had illegally threatened workers’ stock options if they chose to unionize. The opinion, by three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, allows the National Labor Relations Board to enforce a 2021 order requiring Tesla to reinstate, with back pay, the employee, Richard Ortiz, and Mr. Musk to delete a Twitter post suggesting workers could lose stock options if they unionize.
IN THE STATES
Kevin Gundlach On The Importance Of Electing AFL-CIO Endorsed Candidate For Wisconsin Supreme Court
WORT
By Labor Radio
March 31, 2023
This Tuesday, April 4th, is Election Day, and organized labor in Wisconsin is going all-out for the Madison State Supreme Court race, which has received national attention. We spoke today to Kevin Gundlach, President of the South Central Federation of Labor, or SCFL, about the importance of electing the AFL-CIO’s endorsed candidate, Judge Janet Protasiewicz, to the state’s highest court.
St. Louis BUD program graduates 28th class of pre-apprentices
Labor Tribune
By Staff
April 3, 2023
Six pre-apprentices recently graduated from the Building Union Diversity (BUD) program, opening doors to good-paying union construction careers in the St. Louis area. Taking part in the March 10 ceremony at Iron Workers Local 396 Hall in St. Louis were graduates (front row from left) Andrew Bauer, Brent Thurman, Jamaal Davis, William Carter, Jr., BUD Program Coordinator Aurora Bihler, graduate Ryan Fain, Executive Director of Missouri Works Initiative Executive Director Megan Price, and (back row from left) Missouri Works Initiative Director of Operations Amy Phillips and graduate Mark Williams. The six-week program was created in 2014 by the St. Louis Building & Construction Trades Council as a recruitment tool to encourage more minorities and women to get into the union building trades. Today, the program is run by the Missouri AFL-CIO’s Missouri Works Initiative and boasts a 92 percent graduation rate.
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
New bill aimed at improving work conditions for nurses
Safety + Health Magazine
By Staff
April 3, 2023
Two lawmakers have reintroduced a bill that would mandate nurse staffing levels in hospitals in an effort to create better working conditions. “Many nurses have left the bedside because they are unwilling to risk their patients’ lives by being forced to care for them in an unsafe manner,” NNU President Deborah Burger said in the release. “This bill would bring them back to providing direct care at the bedside and in clinics by ensuring their patients receive proper, safe, optimal and timely care.” Randi Weingarten – president of AFT, whose membership includes nurses and health care workers – added: “Doing nothing will result in more people leaving and create more shortages and push our health care system to the brink. All this threatens our ability to provide care across the country.”