JOINING TOGETHER
Nurses at Hayward’s St. Rose Hospital ratify new contract
KALW
By Hanisha Harjani
May 10, 2023
Nurses reached a tentative agreement with management last week, and this vote solidifies their new contract, which includes protections to improve patient safety and nurse retention, according to an announcement from California Nurses Association/National Nurses United. Some of the terms include workplace violence prevention improvements, wage increases and improved health care benefits, union officials said Monday. Dianne Kubota is a registered nurse in the medical and surgical telemetry unit. She says that: "with our new contract, St. Rose nurses can improve our advocacy to address staffing concerns. We also won affordable health care for our families and ourselves."
Actors’ Equity President Kate Shindle Says “Too Soon” To Predict WGA Strike Impact On Tony Awards
Deadline
By Greg Evans
May 10, 2023
Just hours after members of Actors’ Equity Association joined the striking WGA picket lines outside of HBO and Amazon’s New York City offices today, Kate Shindle, Equity president, suggested in a statement to Deadline that the strike’s impact on the upcoming Tony Awards is yet to be determined. “Equity stands unequivocally with the Writers Guild of America in their pursuit of a fair contract,” said Shindle. “The AMPTP needs to get back to the table with a serious offer that reflects the essential contributions of writers, showrunners and others to this multibillion-dollar industry.
As Minor Leaguers Unionized, One Went to Law School
The New York Times
By Scott Miller
May 9, 2023
“Frankly, I grew tired of seeing my colleagues in minor league baseball go through the things they were going through,” Rowley, now 32, said last month while wrapping up his second year at the University of Colorado Law School. “A lot of my goals of going to law school have been accomplished by the minor leaguers unionizing. But the fight is not over. It never will be. That’s the inherent nature of labor negotiations.” To help his atypical path out of a sport in which few players graduate from college, let alone earn law degrees, Rowley was awarded the Michael Weiner Scholarship for Labor Studies, which was started by the M.L.B. Players Trust after the death of Weiner, an executive director of the M.L.B. Players Association who died with brain cancer at age 51 in 2013. The program provides $50,000 a year for up to five graduate students or law school students seeking to improve the lives of workers.
With writers’ strike underway, film and TV studios start labor talks with directors
CNN Business
By Chris Isidore
May 10, 2023
Television and film studios, already dealing with a strike by the Writers Guild of America, started contract negotiations Wednesday with the Directors Guild of America. If those talks break down, they could lead to even broader work stoppages on film and television sets nationwide. SAG-AFTRA, the union that represents actors, is due to begin their own talks next month. The industry is undergoing major changes because of the shift to streaming, and all three sets of talks could prove difficult. Without a quick resolution, American audiences may be left without much new content to watch later this year or in early 2024.
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
'Stamp out hunger' takes place Saturday
WVTM
By Linda Grantin
May 10, 2023
The United States Postal Service, National Association of Letter Carriers, National Rural Letter Carriers' Association, AFL-CIO, United Way, Vericast, Valpak Direct Marketing Systems, CVS Health, Kellogg's, and United Food and Commercial Workers International Union are all supporting this year's Stamp Out Hunger food drive.
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
US lawmakers call to modernize Osha as hundreds die on the job each day
The Guardian
By Michael Sainato
May 10, 2023
The AFL-CIO’s Death on the Job 2023 report, released on 26 April, outlines the “toll of neglect” that comes from inadequately addressing workplace safety issues amid aggressive opposition from industry groups and employers against improving and enforcing workers protections. The report cites low civil penalties for safety violations issued by Osha, understaffing and underfunding at Osha, the millions of workers who are currently not covered under Osha which include independent contractors and federal, state and local public workers, inadequate retaliation protections for workers to speak out and report safety issues, and the need to improve and expand data on worker injuries and illnesses. For Black workers, the workplace fatality rate increased from 3.5 per 100,000 workers in 2020 to 4.0 in 2021, the highest rate in a decade, while Latino workers currently have a worker fatality rate of 4.5 per every 100,000 workers, 25% higher than the national average.
Black workers died on the job at the highest rate, AFL-CIO report says
New York Amsterdam News
By Karen Juanita Carrillo
May 10, 2023
People of color are dying while at work more than others, the AFL-CIO said in its latest report: “Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect.” Looking at the number of worker deaths in 2021, the union found that “Black workers died on the job at the highest rate in more than a decade” and “Latino workers continue to be at greater risk of dying on the job than all workers.”
EDUCATION
Five challenges educators face amid Teacher Appreciation Week
Fox59
By Lexi Lonas
May 10, 2023
Teachers have long called for higher salaries, arguing they are underpaid for the amount of work they do and in some cases can’t afford to live in the communities they serve. A report released last year by the National Education Association found that in the past decade, adjusting for inflation, a classroom teacher’s salary decreased by 3.8 percent. “There is no better way to appreciate teachers than to pay them appropriately,” Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, tweeted on Monday. “This #TeacherAppreciationWeek, take action with @AFTunion to urge your senators and representative to sponsor bills that would raise teacher pay,” she added.