Posts tagged AI
IATSE, AMPTP Reach Tentative Agreement on New Contract
June 26, 2024 // According to a memo emailed to IATSE members, the tentative deal includes “new protections around artificial intelligence, including language that ensures no employee is required to provide AI prompts in any manner that would result in the displacement of any covered employee. These changes in the Basic Agreement are in addition to the tentative agreements reached in the Local Agreement negotiations.”
Sesame Workshop Writers Authorize Potential Strike
April 18, 2024 // In the negotiations for a new contract, which began on Feb. 13, the union is seeking to institute “industry standard” annual raises and fixed residuals for re-use on streaming platforms, as well as a performance-based bonus when their work does well on streaming platforms. They are also looking to expand their contract to cover writing for animation and social media work, which would add members to the existing bargaining unit. They are further working on regulating the use of AI within the contract and establishing a paid parental leave fund. “No one wants to see a picket line on Sesame Street,” WGA East president Lisa Takeuchi Cullen said in a statement. “Millions of parents and families around the world are going to have a lot of questions. They might ask why the bosses at Sesame Workshop are ignoring their company’s own messages of kindness and fairness.”
Gannett journalists in the solar eclipse’s path go on strike
April 9, 2024 // Both Austin and Rochester are in the path of totality, and journalists at the two newsrooms say their outlets have devoted considerable resources to covering the eclipse. Democrat and Chronicle education reporter Justin Murphy said his newsroom has already published dozens of stories about the eclipse and has a “major” print issue planned for the event. “We see the eclipse as the exact sort of news event that demands experienced local reporters who know where to be, who know who to speak with, who know what to ask,” Murphy said. “We’ve put a huge amount of thought into where … all the different reporters are going to be set up to capture not only the eclipse itself, but all the different geographies and demographics of our community — the different experiences that people are going to be having.” But after the Newspaper Guild of Rochester failed to reach an agreement on a contract with Gannett Friday night, workers decided to launch an open-ended strike.
Boston University Denies It Would Use AI to Replace Striking Teaching Assistants
April 2, 2024 // The university’s response comes after an email to faculty from Stan Sclaroff, dean of arts and sciences. Last week, two days after thousands of BU graduate student workers began a strike, the email made recommendations including using artificial intelligence to better manage course discussions, labs and student feedback. “Neither Dean Sclaroff nor Boston University believe that AI can replace its graduate student teaching assistants, and the assertion that we plan to do so is patently false,” Boston University said in a statement on Friday.
Journalists turn to picket lines as the news business ails
February 16, 2024 // At the L.A. Times, where Schleuss got his start as a labor activist, owner Soon-Shiong made deep cuts last June and again last month, saying he is losing tens of millions of dollars a year on the paper. He says the union's refusal to give him greater leeway in making job cuts in January forced him to lay off more journalists. He had offered buyouts in exchange for relaxing protections by seniority. The union instead went out on strike.
As Musicians Start Talks With Studios, Hollywood Labor Leaders Lend Support In Picket
January 22, 2024 // The program - which featured music performed by AFM brass musicians and speeches from labor leaders including Teamsters Local 399 secretary-treasurer Lindsay Dougherty, Writers Guild of America West vice president Michele Mulroney and L.A. County Federation of Labor president Yvonne Wheeler - took place hours before the AFM was scheduled to begin negotiations over new Basic Theatrical Motion Picture and Basic Television Motion Picture contracts with the AMPTP in an office just steps away.
How McDonald’s, Chipotle, Starbucks are preparing for the fast-food worker battles to come in 2024
January 4, 2024 // “Anyone looking at this in the industry, now that emotion has been removed from the negotiation, sees this as the least bad option or worst good option, depending on which side you’re on,” said Matt Haller, president and CEO of the International Franchise Association, a trade group that represents franchisors, franchisees and franchise suppliers. In exchange for concessions, and staring down a very uncertain outcome on the referendum, “We have this very predictable business environment for our members moving forward,” he said.
UAW President Shawn Fain plans to keep automakers sweating
January 1, 2024 // "I don't like what I've seen in my work career with the UAW leadership, where they were too damn close to the companies," UAW President Shawn Fain told CNN earlier this month. But when asked if things work better for his members when there's a less contentious or more contentious relationship between the UAW and the Big Three, Fain responded, "We just negotiated the most successful contracts in our history," he said. "For the last 30 years that I've been a member, we went backwards. So I like to let the body of work speak for itself," Fain said. The success of those contracts is the reason that Shawn Fain is CNN Business' labor leader of the year.
Costumer waits for work to pick up post-union strikes
January 1, 2024 // NY1 spoke to Quanci in May, when the writers strike began and her work was impacted. Both the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA, which began striking in July, were fighting for protections around better pay and residuals, as well as regulated use of artificial intelligence. Now, in this time of flux, she says she and her husband, who works as a camera operator, have had to take on side jobs. “For me, that means taking on a part-time job as a sales associate at a local boutique, which has been a great structure builder for me,” she said. She doesn't know how long the side jobs will be needed before she can get back to her profession in earnest, but says she continues to do what she has to to make ends meet. She hopes her industry picks up again in the new year.
A Big Year for Labor, But Not for Reality TV Workers
January 1, 2024 // Non-fiction field and story producers have cheered gains made by the Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA in their deals with studios, but also have noticed that they’re one of the only departments unprotected by a union even on unionized sets.