WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
GOP Assault on Child Labor Laws Under Fresh Scrutiny After 16-Year-Old Dies at Poultry Plant
Common Dreams
By Kenny Stancil
July 19, 2023
The recent death of a minor from injuries sustained while working at a poultry plant in Mississippi has elicited fresh outrage about the dangerous implications of the current assault on child labor protections across the United States. "How many more children must die?" AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler asked Wednesday. "Any lawmaker who wants to undermine child labor laws, in 2023, is a disgrace."
JOINING TOGETHER
Strikes are on the rise. But are labor unions missing their moment?
1A
By Lauren Hamilton
July 19, 2023
"Technology has changed over time. Whether we talk about automation of auto factories in the 50s and 60s or the rise of the internet. Over and over again-- there's a bargain to be made. There's a negotiation to have. You're going to have increased productivity and what share of that is going to go towards profits and CEO salaries and what share is going to go to the people who do the work," said AFL-CIO Deputy Organizing Director Christian Sweeney.
IATSE Holds Strike Authorization Vote for Theater Workers on the Pink Contract (Exclusive)
The Hollywood Reporter
By Caitlin Huston
July 19, 2023
IATSE is conducting a strike authorization vote, after the theatrical crew union says talks with the Broadway League and Disney Theatrical Productions have stalled. The contract negotiations, and the strike authorization vote, concern stagehands, hair and make-up artists and wardrobe personnel working on a so-called pink contract. About 1,500 workers are directly covered by the agreement and they work across 45 theatrical shows, with 28 productions on Broadway and 17 on tour. Voting is open on Wednesday and Thursday only. If the members vote to authorize a strike and a contract agreement is not reached, IATSE says workers under the pink contract could strike as soon as Friday morning.
By David A. Cook
July 19, 2023
As many of you probably know, our union family with UFCW Local 88 authorized a strike earlier this month as they continued their negotiations with Schnucks. Rather than immediately going out on strike, Local 88 leadership, with an overwhelming strike authorization, chose to go back to negotiations. As the President of Local 655, I made it very clear to all parties, Local 88, the International and most importantly Schnucks what Local 655 would do in the event of a strike by our sister Local 88. We would stand in support of them just as they did for us when we were on strike in 2003. An injury to one is an injury to all, and solidarity across the Labor Movement is what makes us strong.
SAG-AFTRA’s Duncan Crabtree-Ireland On Need For CEOs To “Step Up” & Make A Fair Deal, Getting Hollywood Back To Work (Guest Column)
Deadline
By Duncan Crabtree-Ireland
July 19, 2023
You’ve seen the countless headlines, the ubiquitous photos and footage of familiar and less-familiar faces of actors standing shoulder-to-shoulder in solidarity with their union siblings from all the unions representing the rest of the working industry on the picket lines. This is the first time in more than 60 years that SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America have gone on strike at the same time.
Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network Production Workers Launch Unionization Effort
The Hollywood Reporter
By Katie Kilkenny
July 19, 2023
Dozens of production workers at Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network have gone public with their attempt to unionize with The Animation Guild. Sixty-six staffers at Warner Bros. Animation and 22 at Cartoon Network filed a petition for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday and simultaneously requested voluntary recognition from management at the Warner Bros. Discovery subsidiaries. Collectively, the group includes workers in roles like production manager, digital production assistant, IT technician, production coordinator, production assistant, design production coordinator, assistant production manager and senior assistant production manager.
Bobcat workers in Bismarck agree to four-year contract
KX News
By Joel Porter
July 19, 2023
Workers at Bobcat in Bismarck said ‘yes’ to a new union contract this week, which they say is peace of mind for hundreds of men and women. Union reps and Doosan Bobcat have been negotiating for the last two months on an arrangement for better treatment of workers. On Tuesday, July 18, around 700 workers in Bismarck who are part of the United Steelworkers union voted to approve a four-year agreement. “It benefits everybody,” USW District 11 Member Tom Ricker said, “because one of the other things is they’re no longer at-will employees. They now have a contract that spells out that they can only be disciplined or terminated for just cause. In the long run, it benefits all of the workers.”
LABOR AND TECHNOLOGY
Business and Labor Square Off Over AI’s Future in American Workplace
The Wall Street Journal
By Ryan Tracy
July 19, 2023
Unions are concerned not only about job losses, but about companies using AI applications to keep tabs on workers outside of their jobs, where an AI-driven system might identify a group of workers carrying their employer-issued smartphones to a union organizing meeting, according to Amanda Ballantyne, director of AFL-CIO’s technology institute. “You hear stories from workers about having their time in the bathroom tracked,” she said.
NLRB
L.A. investigating after Universal trims trees near writers’ picket line
The Washington Post
By Daniel Wu
July 19, 2023
A SAG-AFTRA spokesperson told The Post that on Tuesday, the two unions each filed unlawful labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board against NBCUniversal regarding unsafe conditions at picketing sites, referencing the tree-trimming incident as an example.
IN THE STATES
Atlantic City's main casino union, where most workers are women, is finally led by one
NBC Philadelphia
By Wayne Parry
July 19, 2023
Most of the Atlantic City casino workers who clean hotel rooms, serve drinks and tidy up public areas are women. For the first time in 107 years, the union that represents them is now being led by a woman. Donna DeCaprio is one of the most influential people in Atlantic City as president of Local 54 of the Unite Here union, which has about 10,000 members and has repeatedly brought the casino industry to its knees during labor disputes. But there will be labor peace in Atlantic City for at least three more years following the adoption of landmark contracts last summer, which gave workers the biggest raises they've ever had. DeCaprio was the lead negotiator of those contracts, filling in for then-president Bob McDevitt who was still recovering from an illness that led to the amputation of one of his feet.