Posts tagged Covid
No, Reality TV Isn’t Thriving During Industry Strikes
August 4, 2023 // The dual strikes are also raising more awareness about working conditions across the industry, in recent weeks prompting people like The Real Housewives of New York’s Bethenny Frankel and Selling Sunset’s Mary Bonnet to speak in support of creating a union for reality TV performers. One anonymous producer tells The Hollywood Reporter that several producers have spoken out in support of unionizing as well, but because there is currently a lull in work opportunities, most producers are currently more focused on finding jobs and getting a paycheck than organizing for better working conditions.
Booze, Bard, Union Card: Drunk Shakespeare Troupes Get Organized
July 18, 2023 // That almost instantaneous recognition has also caught fire across other branches of Drunk Shakespeare. There are five groups of Drunk Shakespeare troupes nationwide: Chicago, New York City, Phoenix, D.C., and Houston. So far two other troupes, in Phoenix and D.C., have joined the march toward a united front. Drunk Shakespeare D.C. ensemble member and union representative Kit Krull said the D.C. branch had been considering coming together for a few months. “Back in April, D.C. had a reckoning that led to us approaching management about structural and equity issues that accumulated over the year we’d been open,” they explained. “We weren’t using the word ‘union,’ but I believe we were beginning to think along those lines. When we heard that Chicago had unionized, we knew that we had to get in contact with them as soon as possible.”
Staffing standard could boost unionization efforts in nursing homes
July 10, 2023 // A looming national staffing mandate for nursing homes could open the door for more labor organizing in a sector where a low proportion of workers are covered by union contracts. Why it matters: Higher pay, better benefits and baseline staff-to-patient ratios could lure more people to a workforce that was hollowed out during the pandemic, organizers say.
Commentary: The Left and their Union Masters
June 27, 2023 // Since Janus, government employee unions have lost nearly 800,000 members, taking with them billions in dues revenue that can never again be used to fund a machine that suppresses the rights of its own members in order to advance policies that rob the rest of us our God-given freedoms.
Randi Weingarten Appointed to DHS School Safety Advisory Council
June 23, 2023 // In the fall of 2020, Weingarten denounced calls to reopen schools as “reckless, callous, cruel.” An AFT affiliate in Chicago similarly condemned then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot in 2022, who called her efforts to reopen school “rooted in sexism, racism, and misogyny.”
Largest Federal Employee Union Backs Biden-Harris for Reelection
June 20, 2023 // Also, the Biden-Harris administration implemented measures to support federal employees during the COVID-19 pandemic, including granting 15 weeks of emergency leave and easing access to worker’s compensation. The president also established a task force to expand union representation within the federal government and nationwide. The AFGE endorsement underscores Biden’s unwavering support for the working people serving the government with honor and distinction, the organization said. Kelley highlighted Biden’s commitment to labor unions and praised his administration for standing by AFGE members and workers.
Hotel Workers Union Strike Vote Taken at the Pasadena Hilton Could Be Largest Such Strike in U.S. History
June 12, 2023 // The timing coincides with the Los Angeles area’s preparations to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics. Workers are demanding improved contracts in advance of these events, expected to bring a significant boost to the local hotel industry. Workers are seeking a $10-an-hour wage increase, affordable family healthcare, retirement pensions, and safer staffing levels. They are also protesting the industry’s decision to cut staff and increase workloads during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Despite fierce pushback, an Oregon union is proceeding in its efforts to recall an influential Democrat
June 9, 2023 // In a blistering letter sent June 2, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555 said it had no plans to stop. The union has already put down $100,000 to fund a recall on state Rep. Paul Holvey, a Eugene Democrat considered one of the strongest labor champions in the statehouse. And the union’s president, Dan Clay, went further. He laid out years’ worth of grievances his tens of thousands of members have with state policymakers — from a decision not to prioritize grocery workers for COVID-19 vaccines, to how the state chose to distribute pandemic relief money, to the death of the union’s priority bill this year. The union is so disillusioned, Clay wrote, that it is likely to abandon the statehouse altogether in coming years, pushing ballot measures instead of bills.
FedEx pilots union reaches tentative contract deal
May 31, 2023 // Pilots’ unions reportedly have more leverage to push for increased pay and changes in scheduling practices, following the shortage of pilots industry-wide that came about as carriers encouraged retirement during the COVID-19 pandemic.