SUPREME COURT
Supreme Court Rejects Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness Plan
The New York Times
By Adam Liptak
June 30, 2023
The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the Biden administration had overstepped its authority with its plan to wipe out more than $400 billion in student debt, dashing the hopes of tens of millions of borrowers and imposing new restrictions on presidential power. The decision, the last of a tumultuous term, was part of a trio of muscular rulings on Thursday and Friday in which the court divided 6 to 3 along partisan lines. In addition to rejecting the loan forgiveness program, the court’s conservative majority also sharply limited affirmative action in higher education and dealt a blow to gay rights.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s bold debut and independent streak
The Washington Post
By Ann E. Marimow
July 2, 2023
Matt Ginsburg, general counsel for the AFL-CIO, said Jackson’s strength is “an ability and willingness to talk about how complex legal decisions affect ordinary people and their lives.” He pointed to her questions in a case involving regulations that affect overtime pay for highly compensated workers who are not on salary.
High Court’s right-wing onslaught prompts demands for radical judicial reform
People’s World
By Mark Gruenberg
July 3, 2023
Three rulings announced in one day last week set off waves of anger and determination to fight against a Court determined to squash existing rights for entire categories of Americans. One ruling tossed out 45 years of precedence for affirmative action in college and university admissions. The ruling will allow colleges and universities and eventually perhaps all kinds of other institutions to discriminate against Black and other minorities. Another ruling allows businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ people by letting them refuse service to Gay, Lesbian trans and other people on so-called religious or other grounds. It is seen by human rights advocates as a possible first step in the Supreme Court eliminating the right to same sex marriage, something right-wing Justice Clarence Thomas has declared must be “revisited.”
A third ruling threw out President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program as an “excessive overreach” of executive power—even though federal law gave Biden the power to institute the forgiveness. The Heroes Act, which is the law of the land, stipulated that the Administration has this power. The Court ignored that and wrote its own law to supersede law written by Congress, the constitutionally designated lawmaker and voice of the people.
JOINING TOGETHER
Hollywood Actors Extend Contract Talks at Deadline
The New York Times
By Nicole Sperling
June 30, 2023
The union representing some 160,000 television and movie actors said on Friday night that it would continue contract negotiations with the major Hollywood studios and streaming services, extending the current deal — which had been set to expire at midnight — through July 12.
Tino Gagliardi Elected President Of American Federation Of Musicians
Deadline
By David Robb
June 30, 2023
Tino Gagliardi has been elected international president of the American Federation of Musicians. Gagliardi, president of AFM Local 802 in New York City, succeeds Ray Hair, who had been international president since 2010 but chose not to seek reelection at the union’s 102nd convention this week in Las Vegas.
St. Louis Public Radio Reporters Unionize
Riverfront Times
By Ryan Krull
June 30, 2023
Reporters at St. Louis Public Radio have voted to unionize, their guild announced today. The announcement comes after a group of the station's journalists, producers, on-air talent and marketing staff voted on whether or not to join the Communication Workers of America, with the yeses carrying the day by a roughly 80-20 margin. The Communication Workers of America is a union with about 700,000 members in the United States and Canada.
Hollywood actors' union extends contract deadline, delaying potential strike as talks continue
CBS News
By Jonathan Vigliotti
June 30, 2023
SAG-AFTRA's current contract was set to expire at midnight Friday. However, on Friday night, SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the group which represents the major studios, agreed to extend their contract through to midnight on July 12 in order to continue their talks.
Workers at major hotels in Southern California set to strike over holiday weekend
CNN Business
By Chris Isidore
June 30, 2023
A union representing 15,000 workers at 65 major hotels in Los Angeles and Orange counties are set to go on strike early Saturday in a push for significantly improved wages. The current labor contract expires at 12:01 am PDT Saturday. Among the hotels that set to be struck either overnight or early Saturday are the Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott LA Live, Beverly Hilton, Fairmont Miramar, Anaheim Hilton, and Four Seasons Regent Beverly Wilshire, the setting for the movie “Pretty Woman.”
SAG-AFTRA Contract Talks Extended to July 12
The Hollywood Reporter
By Katie Kilkenny
June 30, 2023
The two parties announced that they would delay the expiration of the union’s current TV/Theatrical contracts package on Friday, mere hours before those agreements were set to expire at midnight. This move will allow for more time for negotiations and for ongoing projects to continue operating under SAG-AFTRA agreements until the new expiration date. If the two parties do not reach an agreement by the end of the day on July 12, the union can still call a strike — which, if it came to pass, would be its first targeting major film and television companies in four decades, and, coupled with an ongoing writers’ strike, would further hamper the industry.
From the Docks to Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles Workers Are Feeling Emboldened
The New York Times
By Shawn Hubler, Kurtis Lee and Jill Cowan
July 1, 2023
In the two months since they went on strike, screenwriters have become a fixture outside studios in Southern California, signs aloft as the traffic roars past. In many parts of America, theirs would be a lonely vigil. Not in Los Angeles. At the behemoth ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, operations were disrupted for weeks until West Coast dockworkers reached a tentative contract deal in mid-June. Across the city, schools shut down for three days this spring when bus drivers, cafeteria workers and teachers walked out. Now, the union representing some 15,000 hotel workers in Los Angeles is threatening to strike this Fourth of July weekend, just as the summer tourism season ramps up. And more than 160,000 actors are poised to shut down Hollywood productions if they cannot reach a new contract deal later this month. “We’re calling it the ‘hot labor summer,’” said Lorena Gonzalez, the chief officer of the California Labor Federation, which represents more than 2.1 million union members statewide. “We have sparks and fires everywhere, and we’re not letting it die down in California. We’re fanning the flames.”
Threat of a hotel worker strike looms over Los Angeles on a packed July 4 weekend
Los Angeles Times
By Helen Li and Suhauna Hussain
July 1, 2023
Employees at more than 60 hotels in the region are poised to walk off the job after their contracts expired at midnight Friday. Anime Expo attendees and hotels are braced for disruptions. As of Saturday evening, the union had not announced a work stoppage, though organizers distributed informational fliers about their efforts outside the convention. Unite Here Local 11 spokesperson Maria Hernandez denied the union had canceled any scheduled negotiations and said it is pushing hotel companies to accept the higher wage proposal it made at the outset of negotiations. “Workers won’t take anything less than that,” Hernandez said. “They’re ready to walk out at any moment.”
Thousands of SoCal hotel workers on strike after negotiations for higher pay, better benefits fail
ABC7
ByAmy Powell
July 2, 2023
Thousands of workers at hotels across Los Angeles County officially walked off the job on Sunday, starting a labor strike as they demand higher wages and better benefits. The contract between the hotels and Unite Here Local 11, which represents up to 15,000 workers employed at major hotels, expired at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. The union had already reached a deal Wednesday night with the largest of their employers, the Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites in downtown L.A.
Musicians Union Elects New International Leadership
Associated Press
By Staff
July 3, 2023
The 102nd Convention of the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada was held June 26 through June 29, 2023, at the Westgate Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The theme “In Unity, There Is Strength” was reflected in the various discourse among the delegates and echoed by many guest speakers. International President Ray Hair, International Vice President Bruce Fife, and Secretary-Treasurer Jay Blumenthal announced earlier this year they would not be seeking reelection, thus opening the top three positions for new leadership.
A new chapter: Workers at Park Slope Barnes and Noble store vote overwhelmingly to unionize
Brooklyn Paper
By Kirstyn Brendlen
July 3, 2023
Employees at the Barnes and Noble bookstore in Park Slope voted overwhelmingly in favor of unionizing last week. Booksellers, cashiers, and baristas at the store first notified management of their intention to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union in May, and asked that the company voluntarily recognize their effort.
Thousands of SoCal hotel workers strike in effort to secure better pay, benefits
CBS Los Angeles
By Iris Salem and KCAL-News Staff
July 3, 2023
Thousands of hospitality workers at dozens of Southland hotels went on strike on Sunday, forming picket lines at many of the businesses in an effort to secure higher pay and improvements in health care and retirement benefits. The strike continued Monday morning. "This morning, thousands of cooks, room attendants, dishwashers, delivery men, bell men, and front desk agents at multiple properties walked out on the largest multi-hotel strike in the Local's history," said a UNITE HERE, Local 11 Union representative in a statement.
UFCW Local 88 members authorize strike at Schnucks ‘should it become necessary’
Labor Tribune
By Tim Rowden
July 3, 2023
Members of Meat, Seafood & Deli Workers (UFCW) Local 88 rejected a contract offer from Schnucks grocery stores in Missouri and Illinois last week and authorized a strike “should it become necessary” as negotiations continue. Members voted to reject the company’s contract offer and authorized union leadership to call for a strike at a meeting to review the company’s contract offer on June 21. Local 88 is asking for higher wages, paid sick leave and more money in its healthcare fund. Local 88 President Dan Telle said the company’s latest offer would not only jeopardize the member’s health care plan, but fails to offer competitive wages for their hard work.
IN THE STATES
Oregon minimum wage just got a raise. Here's how much
KGW8
By Thomas Shults
July 1, 2023
In a statement, representatives of the Oregon AFL-CIO said the uptick in wages will benefit 108,000 Oregonians. They said the rise is a “significant milestone.”