MUST READ
Writers Strike: Other Guilds Pledge Support For WGA On Day 1
Deadline
By Erik Pedersen
May 2, 2023
Here’s what the AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, who leads the country’s largest federation of unions, said Tuesday: The 12.5 million members of the AFL-CIO stand in strong solidarity with members of the WGAE and the WGAW who went on strike this morning to fight for a fair contract that recognizes the tremendous value these writers bring to the entertainment industry. Writers are the lifeblood of film, television and other entertainment, and they deserve a fair contract that ensures these vital jobs pay family-supporting wages and include decent benefits like health care and retirement. Producers make billions in profits off the words that bring the magic of film and television to life for audiences in the United States and around the world. It’s deeply disappointing that Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) isn’t bargaining in good faith to deliver a fair contract. We call on the producers to immediately reach an agreement with the WGAE and the WGAW that respects the vital work the writers do to entertain millions of people every single day.
POLITICS
Why Julie Su’s Nomination as Secretary of Labor Matters to Asian-Pacific Americans and Beyond (Opinion)
The Arizona Daily Star
By Fred Yamashita
May 2, 2023
As an Asian-Pacific American, I’m filled with pride to support Julie Su as Secretary of Labor. Julie Su is the daughter of Chinese immigrants. Her mother came to the United States on a cargo ship because she couldn’t afford a passenger ticket, her parents later built a small laundromat business and raised a daughter who became a worker’s advocate and civil rights leader. Su’s unwavering dedication to confronting corporate greed and championing workers’ rights is genuinely inspiring.
LABOR AND ECONOMY
Nearly a third of nurses nationwide say they are likely to leave the profession
NPR
By Jaclyn Diaz
May 2, 2023
Unions representing nurses have long warned about the problem facing the profession, said National Nurses United President Deborah Burger and President of SEIU Healthcare 1199NW Jane Hopkins. Both women are also RNs. National Nurses United has issued a number of its own reports and surveys about the current state of the profession, which have come to similar conclusions to the AMN survey. The union has lobbied Congress hard to pass legislation that address staffing ratios and improve workplace safety provisions.
JOINING TOGETHER
Television, movie writers strike after failed negotiations with studios
PBS
By Jake Coyle
May 2, 2023
Television and movie writers declared late Monday that they will launch a strike for the first time in 15 years, as Hollywood girded for a walkout with potentially widespread ramifications in a fight over fair pay in the streaming era. The Writers Guild of America said that its 11,500 unionized screenwriters will head to the picket lines on Tuesday. Negotiations between studios and the writers, which began in March, failed to reach a new contract before the writers’ current deal expired just after midnight, at 12:01 a.m. PDT Tuesday. All script writing is to immediately cease, the guild informed its members.
Planned Nurses Strike Called Off At St. Rose Hospital
Patch
By Bay City News
May 2, 2023
A two-day registered nurse strike that was set to begin Tuesday at a hospital in Hayward was averted Monday following a tentative agreement. The California Nurses Association/National Nurses United said registered nurses at St. Rose Hospital had reached a tentative agreement Monday with management. The union represents 200 nurses at St Rose Hospital. The nurses are set to vote this week to ratify a new agreement.
Writers strike begins as talks close without resolution at deadline
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By Rodney Ho
May 2, 2023
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said Monday evening that talks ended with the Writers Guild of America without a contract resolution by the deadline of 3 a.m. EST. This paves the way for a writers strike starting Tuesday after the previous contract effectively lapsed. The 11,500 members of the WGA overwhelmingly voted last month to stop working if an agreement wasn’t reached. This is the first strike to impact TV and film production since the last writers strike in 2007, which lasted 100 days. This one could last at least until late June because the AMPTP has committed to negotiating new contracts with the Directors Guild of America starting May 10 and SAG-AFTRA (for actors) on June 7. Their contracts expire June 30.
Hollywood rocked by massive writers’ strike forced by studio bosses
People’s World
By Mark Gruenberg
May 2, 2023
TV, livestreaming, and motion picture studio bosses’ intransigence in bargaining and creation of “a gig economy inside a unionized workforce,” forced 11,000 members of the Writers Guild of America, who craft scripts for television, motion pictures, streaming videos and similar forms of entertainment, to strike at 12:01 am on May 1. “The companies’ behavior has created a gig economy inside a union work force, and their immovable stance in this negotiation has betrayed a commitment to further devaluing the profession of writing,” the WGA said in a statement. It’s the Guild’s first strike in 15 years. Writers Guild picket lines went up in front of Hollywood studios at 1 p.m. Pacific Time. Members of Writers Guild of America-East began picketing at 2:15 pm Eastern Time in front of sites of live productions, such as Netflix’s Manhattan offices and NBC’s offices in New York City’s Rockefeller Center.
Culinary Union bring contract concerns to Clark County commissioners
News3LV
By Cristen Drummond
May 2, 2023
Members from the Culinary Union address Clark County commissioners about their ongoing contract negotiations with Valley Hospital, and the possibility of going on strike if an agreement is not made by May 9.
Striking union members crowd Shasta County supervisors meeting
Record Searchlight
By David Benda
May 2, 2023
Members of Shasta County’s largest bargaining unit showed up in force to Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting. They packed the chamber wearing orange shirts while lobbying for the county to get back to the bargaining table. The Laborer International Union of Northern California, UPEC 792, started a two-week strike Monday after months of talks and negotiations failed to reach an agreement.
Workers Picket Outside Graduate Hotel Site In Princeton
Patch
By Sarah Salvadore
May 2, 2023
Electric workers are holding an informal picket line protesting the contractor’s use of out-of-area workers at the construction site. Wayne DeAngelo, president of the County-based International Brotherhood of Electric Workers (IBEW Local 269), told Patch that all electric work at the site is being done by Academy Electric, that’s not from the Princeton area. The Hammonton-based company does not hire local workers or pay existing workers standard wages and benefits.
IN THE STATES
Columbus adds pay protections for freelance workers
Axios Columbus
By Tyler Buchanan
May 2, 2023
Columbus City Council yesterday approved new protections for independent workers meant to guarantee correct and timely pay. Why it matters: A growing number of Americans are turning to freelance work in search of flexible schedules and professional independence, but they often lack the basic workplace standards of traditional jobs. How it works: Under the new ordinance, set to go into effect next month, Columbus-based employers are required to adhere to written contracts that specify pay rate and services rendered for work worth $250 or more over a four-month period.
UNION BUSTING
Medieval Times Charged With Illegal Union-Busting At California Castle
HuffPost
By Dave Jamieson
May 2, 2023
A regional director for the National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint Tuesday accusing Medieval Times management of an illegal scheme to undermine union support at its castle in Buena Park, California. Last year, workers at the castle launched a union campaign to improve pay and working conditions, gathering signed union cards from members of the show cast, horseback-riding knights and stablehands. Later a petition was circulated in which some workers who had signed union cards asked to retract them. The complaint alleges that the dinner-theater chain’s director of training and development played a direct role in that effort to torpedo the union by offering guidance on the petition and encouraging workers to pull their support. Workers can ask to revoke their union authorization cards if they have a change of heart, but it’s illegal for management to take part in any such effort because it could be coercive.