Posts tagged staffing

    Marvel VFX Artists Vote to Unionize

    August 8, 2023 // The unionization effort marks the first time VFX professionals have banded together in such a fashion, as this segment of the industry has largely remained non-union. IATSE represents more than 168,000 technicians, artisans and craftspersons working in movies and TV, but while “positions like production designers/art directors, camera operators, sound, editors, hair and makeup artists, costumes/wardrobe, script supervisors, grips, lighting, props and paint, among others, have historically been represented by IATSE,” the release explains, “workers in VFX classifications historically have not.” Added VFX coordinator Bella Huffman: “Turnaround times don’t apply to us, protected hours don’t apply to us, and pay equity doesn’t apply to us. Visual effects must become a sustainable and safe department for everyone who’s suffered far too long and for all newcomers who need to know they won’t be exploited.”

    Some of California’s best-paid public employees say they’re ready to strike. Here’s why

    August 7, 2023 // Some of California’s highest-paid public employees are in an intensifying labor battle with the Newsom administration over staffing shortages at state prisons and hospitals that workers say endanger patients and staff. The union representing doctors and psychiatrists working in California correctional facilities said that 91% of voting members authorized a strike Monday. Non-competitive salaries, strenuous working conditions and an overreliance on higher-paid contracted doctors, make it difficult to hire staff physicians, said Dr. Stuart Bussey, president of the umbrella Union of American Physicians and Dentists.

    Fox Chase nurses who answer patient phone calls want to join the center’s new nurses union

    August 3, 2023 // The nurses at the Temple-owner cancer center unionized in June. Twenty-one nurses who answer patient calls were left out of the bargaining unit.

    4,500 SJ city employees begin vote on whether to strike. Here’s a look at service impacts, demands

    August 3, 2023 // "I know City of San Jose employees that are homeless. I know City of San Jose employees that are living in their cars. I know others that choose to commute to San Jose, live in their car overnight for a couple of days because they can't afford to commute back and forth," Rovetto said. ABC7 News spoke with Mayor Matt Mahan ahead of the strike vote. He said city council is expected to have a closed-session later Tuesday to discuss any movement possible. "I do not want the city to be in position where we overextend ourselves and have to do lay-offs or cut services later," Mayor Mahan said. "It's not fair to workers and it's not fair to residents."

    Hotel Workers Strike against Scab Staffing App and Anti-Black Racism

    August 2, 2023 // Bradley said he’s been trying to get a permanent hotel job for more than a decade, and suggested that discrimination was the reason he was passed over. “I think I’ve proven myself, and it’s still not enough,” he said. UNITE HERE has negotiated contract language to push hotels to hire Black workers, starting in Local 1 in Chicago in 2006, with similar language in contracts in Boston and Los Angeles. “Often we’re put against each other, right?” said Briceño. “So through all these years that we’ve been bargaining, we take the opportunity to educate our top leaders, folks that come to the negotiation, to understand the need to speak with one voice for the workers and the inclusion of Black workers.”

    Labor deal reached for Santa Clara County city employees

    August 1, 2023 // The deal also promises to include equity raises and additional wage gains for positions whose wages lag behind market rates, like public health nurses, to make these positions more attractive and help address staffing shortages. Union members are expected to ratify the new agreement in the next two weeks, followed by a formal ratification vote by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.

    New union contract offers hope for better labor relations at the Social Security Administration

    July 25, 2023 // a key difference between the new labor-management forums and previous ones, such as those aimed at addressing issues related to the return to traditional offices, is the commitment of agency senior leaders that they will participate. “Unlike the former union-management meetings, which were largely operated by [Office of Labor-Management and Employee Relations] staff, the [cooperation council] meetings will be jointly run and chaired by labor and management with jointly set agendas and more open sharing of information,” Couture said. “The whole idea is using pre-decisional involvement to solve issues facing employees and public service, and hopefully improve the relationship since they’ll interact and work with each other, while also avoiding, to the extent possible, obstacles inherent to traditional post-decisional and pre-implementation collective bargaining.”

    Union representing nurses at RWJU-NB to give strike notice today

    July 25, 2023 // Danella told ROI-NJ this weekend that the union still is hopeful to have an agreement on a new contract. Its issues, she said, involve pay and staffing. Danella acknowledged the hospital has been attempting to increase its staff, but she said the number of nurses still is not at the level needed for a Level 1 trauma center. “We usually get the sickest of the sick, which we’re accustomed to, and we’ve done it for the 30 years I’ve been there,” she said. “We want to ensure that the acuity of the patients is taken into account for our daily staffing numbers.” The sides thought they had reached a tentative agreement last week, but that agreement was voted down – by a 3-1 margin – by the union. Attempts to reach a new agreement have since fallen short, leading the union to give a strike notice today.

    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.