Archive for November, 2008
CNN Ordered to Rehire 110 Workers Fired for Belonging to a Union
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This report likely won’t be on CNN’s “Headline News,” but after five years, former workers at CNN have finally gained justice. In a decision made public today, an administrative law judge ordered the network to rehire 110 workers who were fired because they were union members. CNN also was ordered to recognize the workers’ unions, National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians-CWA (NABET-CWA) locals 31 and 11.
Judge Arthur Amchan found that CNN violated the rights of more than 250 employees at the network’s bureaus in Washington, D.C., and New York City when it ended its subcontract with Team Video Services (TVS), whose employees were represented by NABET-CWA. He also ruled that CNN discriminated against TVS employees who wanted to continue working at CNN’s bureaus to avoid having to recognize and bargain with the union.
Senate Candidate Martin Joins Union Phone Bank as Election Approaches
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Just eight days remain to get out the vote in Georgia’s U.S. Senate runoff election between Jim Martin, an ally of working families, and Sen. Saxby Chambliss, a Bush crony who repeatedly has voted against the interests of workers.
Martin, who is campaigning hard around the state, dropped in on the phone bank at the Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 613 union hall in Atlanta for a visit last week. Jimmy Hyde, Labor 2008 director for Georgia, reports that Martin phone banked alongside hardworking union volunteers.
Martin…reiterated to everyone how important and meaningful the work we are doing is. Martin acknowledged that we need the labor movement to win this election and that union volunteers reaching out to their brothers and sisters during the phone banks, worksite leaflets, labor walks, and through local union mail are going to make the difference.
Georgia’s union members are mobilized around the state to get out every vote in this critical election.
Screen Actors Seek Strike Authorization
Members of the Screen Actors (SAG) will soon begin voting on a strike authorization after talks between the union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) broke off early Saturday morning. SAG had asked a federal mediator to join the talk, but after 27 hours of marathon negotiations, the mediator was unable to broker an agreement. In a statement, SAG said:
Management continues to insist on terms we cannot responsibly accept on behalf of our members. As previously authorized by the National Board of Directors, we will now launch a full-scale education campaign in support of a strike authorization referendum. We will further inform our members about the core, critical issues unique to actors that remain in dispute.
35,000 Theatrical Stage Employees Set to Get New Pact and More Bargaining News
Some 35,000 members of Theatrical Stage Employees agreed to a tentative three-year contract, and more news from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 900 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
SETTLEMENTS
IATSE, Major Studios: Some 35,000 members of the Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) agreed to a tentative three-year contract with the major Hollywood studios. The current agreement is set to expire in August 2009. The proposed replacement agreement was modeled on similar pacts negotiated by writers, directors and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) that established pay terms for programs streamed on the Web.
Top Shots in Machinists’ Photo Contest
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Along with crafting quality products, Machinists (IAM) members can take some pretty snappy photos, too. The union’s annual photo contest is a chance for members to capture on film—or pixels—the wide range of work done by Machinists across the country.
In the photo “Pantographing,” first place winner (top) Jamy R. Kaiser from IAM Local 52 photographed co-worker Paul Cerra engraving a steel hand stamp at Pannier Corp. in Pittsburgh.
Josh Posvancz of IAM Local W98 took third place for his photo “Face of Our Union” showing his union brother Mike Gamble preparing to work on a band saw at the California Redwood Co. in Korbel, Calif. Click here to see all the winners.
Winning photographs will be included in the 2009 IAM calendar. Click here to download an individual order form. Also $2 from each calendar sold is donated to Guide Dogs of America, a group that trains dogs for the blind and visually impaired that the IAM helped found in 1948 and continues to strongly support.
Hire Education: Three Unions Launch Campaign for Disabled Performers
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Although 20 percent of Americans—56 million people—between the ages of 5 and 64 are living with a disability, they are represented by less than 2 percent of characters on TV.
To increase the visibility and equal employment opportunities for performers with disabilities, three unions—Screen Actors (SAG), the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and Actors’ Equity (Equity)—have launched the I AM PWD (Inclusion in the Arts & Media of People With Disabilities) campaign. Over the next three years, the I AM PWD campaign will reach out to the entertainment and media industries, the general public, political and legislative leaders and to national and global civil rights, labor and community allies in an effort to urge the entertainment industry to open up equal opportunities for disabled performers.
Actor Robert David Hall, national chair of the Tri-Union Performers with Disabilities Committee, says:
I’m fortunate to have a good career as an actor and creative artist. The normal struggles any performer faces, however, are complicated 10-fold by our industry’s reluctance to include people with disabilities in the full landscape of entertainment.
Corporate Class War: Pit Worker Against Worker
Q. Why is handing out hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer funds OK if the recipients are Wall Street corporations but not OK if they are Midwest automakers?
A. Automakers are unionized.
As discussion about the Detroit auto industry’s requests for a bridge loan roils throughout the media, a strikingly class-based argument has emerged by Republican ideologists, Big Business apologists and others who oppose saving America’s automakers.
Here’s The Jed Report’s take on one such example, that of Republican Rep. Zack Wamp, who seems to have forgotten that his own health care, retirement benefits and other “legacy” perks are paid for by U.S. taxpayers.
Labor Journalists Present Awards, Gear Up for Employee Free Choice Push
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Labor journalists from across the country, members of the International Labor Communications Association (ILCA), today celebrated working people’s victories on Election Day and discussed ways to build on the enthusiasm and commitment shown during the 2008 election.
Meeting at AFL-CIO here in Washington, D.C., members of the organization also recognized their peers who made outstanding contributions to labor journalism in the past year. The ILCA presented its top prize, the Max Steinbock Award to Susan Burke for her article, “When Your Mental State Cries ‘Mayday,’ Your Union Stands By You” in the Air Line Pilot magazine, published by the Air Line Pilots (ALPA).
The article describes the efforts of ALPA’s Human Performance Structure to help members deal with the extreme stress they have been experiencing since Sept. 11 and the added pressures of contract devaluations, bankruptcies, fatigue, lack of respect from management and a host of other workplace struggles. Click here to read Burke’s winning article and here for a complete list of all the winners.
12 Steps for Sober Lawmaking
The Depression in the 1930s didn’t just happen on Black Tuesday, when the stock market famously crashed. It rolled out over a period of years, as the United States endured an ongoing decline of the economy, with unemployment worsening, home foreclosures swirling along with the Dust Bowl and bread lines snaking along for blocks.
Among the worst periods of that cumulative disaster was the interregnum between Herbert Hoover’s defeat in November and Franklin Roosevelt’s inauguration in March. (In 1933, passage of the 20th Amendment moved the inauguration to the third Tuesday in January). As Hoover clung to his failed policies, rebuffing FDR’s attempts to work cooperatively to address the crisis, unemployment soared and inaction paralyzed the nation for four months. The bread lines grew longer.
Sen. Chambliss Gets Angry When Asked About Role in Sugar Dust Blast
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Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the anti-worker senator fighting for his career in a tight Georgia runoff election, is facing a subpoena to testify about his relationship with Imperial Sugar. As we’ve noted, Imperial Sugar—an ally and patron of Chambliss—is hoping to evade responsibility for a deadly sugar dust explosion that killed 14 workers last February.
Yesterday, Chambliss responded to a question about the subpoena by swatting away a camera held by a volunteer (see video). Not only is he dodging a court order, but he doesn’t want to discuss his relationship with the company or his attacks on a whistle-blower who exposed the dangerous conditions at the Imperial plant.
As Firedoglake reported, Chambliss received $21 million in campaign contributions this election cycle from the sugar industry.
