Folks,
Greetings from the Burgh on the last day of summer. And, while summer may be winding down, strikes are still going strong across the country.
60,000 IATSE Members Threaten Major Hollywood Strike
Yesterday, IATSE announced that 13 of its California locals representing 60,000 entertainment industry workers plan to hold a strike authorization vote.
The vote comes after the union said it had reached an impasse with its employer, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
In an email to union members on Monday, International Union President Matthew D. Loeb and 13 West Coast Local leaders wrote: “Today, the AMPTP informed the IATSE that they do not intend to respond to our comprehensive package proposal presented to them over a week ago. This failure to continue negotiating can only be interpreted one way. They simply will not address the core issues we have repeatedly advocated for from the beginning. If 75% of the unions’ membership approves of the strike, it could trigger one of the largest Hollywood strikes in decades.”
For more, check out The Hollywood Reporter.
24,000 Kaiser Members Threaten Strike in California
Elsewhere in California, the 24,000 members of the United Nurses of California/Union of Healthcare Professionals (UNAC/UCHP) will take a vote to authorize a strike at Kaiser Permanente after several union leaders moved to authorize a vote. Workers say that Kaiser has failed to protect them during the pandemic.
“How do you tell caregivers in one breath you’re our heroes, we’re invested in you, I want to protect you, but in the next say I want to take away your wages and benefits? Even say you’re a drag on our bottom line,” said Charmaine Morales, RN, UNAC/UHCP Executive Vice President, in a statement released by the union. “For the first time in 26 years, we could be facing a strike.”
For more, check out the webpage of UNAC/UHCP.
Quad City Machinists Go on Strike
In Coal Valley, Illinois, located in the Quad Cities region, more than two dozen machinists employed by escalator manufacturer Kone have gone on strike.
Workers there said that a two-tier pay system, which pays younger workers on a different pay schedule than older workers, has led to unnecessary divisions in the plant.
We have a two-tiered system we’d like to get rid of,” Michael Park, lead mechanical assembler, told WQAD. “And we got guys that are here 40 plus years that haven’t been able, necessarily, to retire comfortably. And it’s just that, we think that you should be able to, after 40 year, 30 plus years of being here, you should be able to retire comfortably.”
The University of Oklahoma Goes On Strike
At the University of Oklahoma, faculty and staff have gone on strike on Monday and Tuesday to protest the lack of protections against COVID on campus.
“The university could be taking some very simple steps to ensure people’s safety, and they aren’t taking those steps right now,” Michael Jablonski, a mathematics professor, told OU Daily. “Those steps are requiring masks and requiring vaccines. Other universities in the US are doing this.”
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News Happening Elsewhere
- 200 SF Giants concessions workers briefly walk off the job to demand to speak to Bon Appetit management as 97% of members authorize a strike.
- NewsGuild walks away from organizing The Columbian newspaper as layoffs, attrition, and 15-month stonewalling contract eliminates union support.
- Workers at a Dollar General in Connecticut are unionizing in a rare union effort at the retail giant.
- In Seattle, the Carpenters Union has accused socialist Seattle City Councilwoman Kshama Sawant of encouraging people to vote against the union’s proposed contract with the Associated General Contractors and encouraging wildcat strikes.
- Fred Redmond, the first Black Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO, condemns the violent expulsion of Haitian refugee migrants on the Texas Border.
- Finally, in Beaumont, Texas, transit workers are threatening to strike.
That’s all for today. Hear about a strike or walkout, or just want to share some comments? Drop us a line at [email protected].
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Love & Solidarity,
Melk
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