Posts tagged Hollywood
75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers are on strike
October 4, 2023 // The multi-state strike comes during a time of elevated labor activity in the United States. Several large-scale strikes have paralyzed companies and entire industries in recent months. The United Auto Workers are on strike against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis — the first time the union has struck all three simultaneously. The entertainment industry also contended with dual strikes this summer after Hollywood’s writers’ and actors’ unions went on strike at the same time for the first time since 1960. The leadership of the Writers Guild of America reached a tentative agreement with Hollywood studios last month, but the actors’ guild strike is ongoing. The health care industry has been particularly affected by rising strike activity. From the start of 2022 through August of this year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has tracked 42 work stoppages of 1,000 or more strikers. Its count shows a third of those strikes were in health care. That’s up from 24% of major strikes in 2019, the year before the pandemic. The increased number of health care strikes have happened despite health care workers making up only about 9% of private sector union members nationwide.
Longtime Union Leader Steps Fully Into Hollywood’s Spotlight
October 2, 2023 // The dual strikes have been devastating financially, with more than 100,000 behind-the-scenes workers like location scouts, makeup artists and lighting technicians out of work. The California economy has lost an estimated $5 billion. Major studios like Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global have seen their stock prices drop. Analysts have estimated that the global box office will lose as much as $1.6 billion in ticket sales because of movies whose releases were pushed back to next year. Mr. Crabtree-Ireland joined SAG-AFTRA in 2000, a Georgetown graduate with a law degree from the University of California, Davis, who spent the first two years of his career in the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. He rose quickly at the union, first to general counsel, then adding chief operating officer to his title. In 2021, he was named national executive director and chief negotiator, a job that pays $989,700 annually.
Gov. Newsom rejects bill to give unemployment checks to striking workers
October 2, 2023 // The fund the state uses to pay unemployment benefits is already more than $18 billion in debt. That's because the fund ran out of money and had to borrow from the federal government during the pandemic, when Newsom ordered most businesses to close and caused a massive spike in unemployment. The fund was also beset by massive amounts of fraud that cost the state billions of dollars.
Opinion: A rebirth of the union movement in the US
September 28, 2023 // Biden’s action is consistent not only with his career, but with the current environment of discontent. Winning back Democratic enclaves in the industrial belt, which Donald Trump won by surprise in 2016, was essential for the current president’s victory in the 2020 elections. And it will be so again in 2024. The capacity for union organization and mobilization explains a good part of the progressive shift by large cities and industrial centers towards the Democratic Party. These are places without whose support one cannot reach the White House. The UAW has not yet endorsed Biden for 2024.
Deal! WGA, AMPTP Reach Historic Contract Agreement to End 146-Day Writers Strike: ‘This Deal Is Exceptional’
September 25, 2023 // The end of the WGA strike will hasten the end of SAG-AFTRA’s walkout. It will also start the process of returning the creative community to its typical cycles of production, distribution, marketing and promotion cycle for content. Production of TV and film has been in state of turmoil since the start of the year when production slowed down in the face of the May 1 deadline set by the WGA’s contract expiration. It was no secret as early as last year that the 2023 round of guild contract negotiations would be challenging, given the level of structural change across TV and film.
Writers, UAW, UPS strikes: Impact on economy
September 22, 2023 // U.S. Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President Neil Bradley broke down what he referred to as "the summer of strikes." Bradley said, "You have these unrealistic, almost excessive demands on the part of union leadership across a whole host of industry that could ultimately be destabilizing for the entire economy."
Is Gen Z the reason behind growing support for unions?
September 21, 2023 // Austin Johnson, 21, works at the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne. He has a long family history with Ford. His mom works at the plant and his grandfather and great-grandfather worked for Ford. Johnson, who was worked for Ford for two years, walked out last week after contract negotiations failed and his union local was called to strike. "I am a tier two employee. I want to get rid of tiers and completely cancel that, and that's why I am here and striking for," he said.
Why it seems like everyone’s going on strike on Biden’s watch
September 19, 2023 // Biden was able to intervene directly in talks between railroads and rail workers since federal law gives the government a big say in that industry’s labor relations due to its economic importance. And his top Labor Department official was involved in a deal this year between West Coast ports and dockworkers. Here’s how the administration publicly stepped in — or didn’t — in some of organized labor’s most high-profile moments.
Portland strippers vote to unionize, could get official recognition later this week
September 15, 2023 // Across the country, there’s been a wave in recent years of workers in industries like food service and manufacturing demanding better pay and benefits, voting to unionize or going on strike to compel management to address their concerns. But last week when Creature and 15 other Magic Tavern dancers unanimously voted to unionize, they became just the second active group of strippers in the country — and the only one in Oregon — to do so. The Actors’ Equity Association, which represents the strippers, expects the National Labor Relations Board to certify the vote by the end of the week. A spokesperson for the NLRB said in an email that if the results are certified, Magic Tavern must bargain in good faith with the union.
Newsom in the hot seat after California passes bill to give striking workers unemployment benefits
September 15, 2023 // At an event hosted by Politico on Tuesday, the governor expressed concerns about the unemployment insurance fund's debt but didn't say whether he would veto the bill. California's unemployment fund is more than $18 billion in debt after it borrowed money from the federal government to pay for unemployment benefits. "I think one has to be cautious about that before you enter the conversation about expanding its utilization," Newsom said. Democrats, on the other hand, have been voicing their support for the unions.