The Weekly Download

“The outcome of this strike could have far-reaching implications, especially for Black actors and writers. From Taraji P. Henson receiving only $40,000 for her Oscar-nominated role as Queenie in the $300 million-grossing “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” to “Abbott Elementary” writer Brittani Nichols tweeting that she’d see no additional compensation after her episode earned record views, Black writers and actors have historically been — and continue to be — at a disadvantage in the TV and film industry.” 

 “Top managements in the U.S. have sought to deploy all the technological wizardry coming out of Silicon Valley to slice and dice the labor of employees so as to create a 'flexible' work regime—displacing the cost of an unpredictable demand for labor from the corporate balance sheet onto the shoulders of the workers who provide the service.”

“Nearly 100 days after declaring a strike, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) remains unwavering in their commitment to securing a fair contract for its 11,000 members. The WGA made it clear last week that after a non-starter meeting with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents major television studios, they will not end the strike until their terms are met: ‘Rest assured, this committee does not intend to leave anyone behind, or make merely an incremental deal to conclude this strike.’”

“Los Angeles municipal employees went on a 24-hour strike on Tuesday to protest what their union calls bad-faith bargaining by city officials over a new contract, the latest in a series of job actions affecting Los Angeles. Mechanics, lifeguards, traffic officers and others marched in picket lines at city hall and the Los Angeles International Airport, saying city management has engaged in unfair labor practices in contract negotiations.”

“Nurses at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick were on strike for a fourth day Monday. Staffing levels are a sticking point between the United Steelworkers Local 4-200 and the hospital. After contract talks stalled, more than 1,700 nurses walked off the job Friday. But passion on the picket line is not waning. ‘Clearly, we're all united for a common purpose here,’ said Jennifer Kwock. Kwock, who works in the neonatal ICU, said depleted staffing levels create dangerous conditions for patients and cause nurses burnout.” 

“Pennsylvania workers represented by United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America have been on strike since late June. They’re fighting for a green overhaul of the rail industry.”

“Unions today are enjoying a surge of support across generations, particularly among Generation Z, and policymakers have a lot to learn about this pro-union generation. Typically defined as adults born in 1997 or later, Gen Z distinguishes itself from previous generations in a number of ways, most prominently in their attitudes toward the workplace, including a higher approval of unions than even older generations had at their age. Entering the labor force in a time of economic uncertainty, Gen Zers not only report high rates of economic anxiety but also have demonstrably more progressive attitudes than older generations. This has translated to on-the-ground organizing successes as Gen Zers lead union campaigns at their workplaces, which in turn has enabled young workers to reap the economic benefits of union membership.”

“The Fellows United campaign submitted union authorization cards to the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA)—the agency that governs relations between the federal government and its employees—on June 1. Organizers have spent the two months since then waiting for an election date, but will have to wait even longer now that the NIH has rejected the workers’ right to unionize and collectively bargain.”

“The nation’s most powerful farmworkers union, United Farm Workers (UFW), has seen a decline in membership since its heyday, falling from 80,000 members in the 1970s to around 6,000 in recent years. But the union scored a new opportunity in 2019, when New York State passed the Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act, cementing farmworkers’ right to organize and prohibiting retaliation from employers against labor activities. UFW leaders say this law made the latest unionization effort possible.”

“AT&T In Home Experts (IHX) across Alabama have formed a union with the Communications Workers of America (CWA). IHX workers from hubs in Huntsville, Birmingham, and Mobile have joined together to make In Home Expert a union position in Alabama. The new CWA members join IHX workers across the country in a movement to organize the profession and bring respect and dignity to the job. AT&T voluntarily recognized the union after a majority of eligible workers signed union authorization cards signaling their desire to be represented by CWA. While many companies choose to engage in protracted, expensive campaigns to prevent workers from joining unions, AT&T has agreed to respect the right of IHX workers in Alabama and across the country to make their own choice about whether or not to join a union.”

“The staff of CalMatters, the award-winning nonprofit journalism outlet covering California politics and policy, announced Tuesday that they are forming a union to preserve and protect a robust, equitable and thriving newsroom. An overwhelming majority, 92% of non-management staff, have signed cards authorizing union representation by The Pacific Media Workers Guild, NewsGuild-CWA Local 39521. They are asking CalMatters leadership to voluntarily recognize the CalMatters Guild as a unit of the Communication Workers of America.”

“A supermajority of [Marvel’s] 50 on-set VFX employees have filed a petition for an election with the National Labor Relations Board. They're hoping to join the Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), which also represents hair and makeup artists, wardrobe, lighting and prop personnel, among other workers.”

“Grindr Inc., the LGBTQ dating company, is using a new return-to-office policy to punish employees who are trying to unionize, workers alleged in a complaint filed with US labor officials. The company has recently restricted remote work and threatened workers with firing unless they live near or relocate to an in-person office, the Communications Workers of America said in a complaint filed Friday with the National Labor Relations Board.”

“Innovations in digital technology and artificial intelligence have transformed the increasingly sophisticated world of visual effects, which can ever more convincingly draw from, replicate and morph flesh-and-blood performers into virtual avatars. Those advancements have thrust the issue toward the top of the grievances cited in the weekslong strike by the actors’ union. SAG-AFTRA, the union representing more than 150,000 television and movie actors, fears that a proposal from Hollywood studios calling for performers to consent to use of their digital replicas at ‘initial employment’ could result in its members’ voice intonations, likenesses and bodily movements being scanned and used in different contexts without extra compensation.”

“A commuter airline has filed 19 lawsuits against pilots who recently quit their jobs, suing them for thousands of dollars the airline says the pilots owe for training costs. The company, Florida-based Southern Airways Express, is trying to enforce a controversial employment clause that has recently gained national attention. Known as a ‘training repayment agreement provision,’ the clauses stipulate that workers will pay the company a particular amount of money if they resign before they’ve worked there for a set amount of time.”

“Organizing activity among workers in the United States is on the rise, and support for labor unions among the general public is the highest it’s been in decades. From union drives at Starbucks, to Trader Joe’s, Medieval Times, college campuses and low-wage industries in the U.S. South (an atypical hotbed for organizing) this wave of unionization has employers scared. Scared enough that they will often turn to ‘union avoidance’ experts like the Labor Pros, a consultancy firm based in Orlando that has a history of flouting federal labor law — because it’s easy, and there have historically been few or no repercussions.”

“Bosses that foist debt on new hires, an increasingly common management practice, appear to be violating their workers’ right to organize unions. According to a report published on July 20 by federal regulators, employment agreements that require workers to pay for training if they quit before an arbitrary deadline have the same effect as another type of legally dubious contract.”

“Alicia Modestino, Associate Professor at Northeastern University, hosts this month's Workers by the Numbers Blogcast. Listen to her in conversation with Harry Holzer, Professor of Public Policy at Georgetown University, and Aaron Sojourner, Senior Researcher at the W.E. Upjohn Institute, as they discuss the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ jobs, wages, and unemployment report for July 2023. This conversation was aired live on the homepage of the blog at 8:45 AM ET on Friday, August 4—just 15 minutes after the release of the report.”

“This paper summarizes and comments on all Supreme Court opinions issued during the 2022-2023 term that deal with labor and employment law and the employment relationship. The paper also provides information on all cases accepted for argument during the 2023-2024 term as of July 29, 2023.”

“‘Labor laws are fairly frequently broken, and the penalty for breaking them is not very great,’ said Michelle Kaminski, an associate professor at Michigan State University and an authority on labor law. ‘And it can take a long time to get a decision about whether the NLRB will agree that the law was violated.’ In part, that’s because the language around labor law, particularly in the area of contract negotiation, can be vague to the point of uselessness. Kaminski said the main provision of the law, originally set forth through the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, is that both sides have to bargain in ‘good faith.’”

“In a post published at the end of March 2023, I posited that "2023 could be the most important year for collective bargaining agreements in recent history." Of course, collective bargaining agreements have great importance to the workers, unions, and employers governed by them…We are now more than halfway through 2023 and it seems like an appropriate time to offer a preliminary assessment of the state of this year's collective bargaining.”

“Detroit may be headed for a tumultuous labor showdown. The United Auto Workers union has made a bold opening bid in negotiations for new four-year collective bargaining agreements with General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis. Its new president, Shawn Fain, has declared that the 150,000 hourly workers employed by the companies are prepared to strike to achieve the union’s goals. The U.A.W. presented the automakers with a list of demands, including a 40 percent wage increase — premised on the compensation gains that the union says the companies’ chief executives have made over the four years since the last contract talks. And with the pivot to electric vehicles, the union wants guarantees that workers hired at the automakers’ new E.V. battery plants will be covered by the U.A.W. national contracts, or at least given contracts with comparable wage and safety terms.”

“Amazon warehouse worker Paul Blundell has spent the past year talking to his co-workers about how UPS Teamsters were getting organized to strike… ‘Everybody’s jaw dropped’ when they heard that night shift workers at the Philly UPS air hub will get an immediate raise to $24.75, Blundell said. ‘We top out around $20.90 after three years, so UPS is now starting well above that—with raises for the rest of the contract.’”

“In Ohio, memories of the episode remain raw: As president in 2017, Donald Trump traveled to the eastern part of the state and vowed that industrial jobs are ‘coming back,’ adding, ‘Don’t sell your house.’ Less than two years later, the General Motors plant in Lordstown closed down, and its workers screamed betrayal. Trump’s broken promise has created a big opportunity for President Biden right now, because of another major labor dispute unfolding in the same region. The United Auto Workers union is demanding that workers at an Ultium Cells plant near Lordstown — a closely watched GM-backed project that manufactures electric vehicle battery cells — get wages and working standards that match those of conventional autoworkers, and the UAW wants Biden to get much more active in publicly pushing for an equitable resolution.”

“Among the many demands that the new leadership of the United Auto Workers has made to the Big Three legacy automakers, I have a personal favorite. It calls for a 40 percent raise for its members over the four-year period of its next contract, which is based on the 40 percent compensation increase that the companies’ CEOs have received during the past four years. In other words, if the bosses are raking it in, why aren’t their employees? The demand is my favorite because it goes to the core of how the American economy has become so misshapen, and because it dramatizes that misshapenness in a way that can both inform the public and build public support for systemic change.”

“Thirty years before a quarter of a million civil rights supporters assembled on the National Mall for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in August 1963 — ‘probably the biggest march of union members in American history up to that point’ — a far smaller contingent of young black leaders met in Amenia, New York.”