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Greetings from the Burgh, where we are launching a $10,000 fund to cover the growing immigrant strikes movement.
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"Anora" Crew Worked Non-Union Before Protests
This week, the movie "Anora" won Oscars for Best Film, Best Actress, Best Film Editing, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Director.
However, it has emerged that its director, Peter Baker, initially worked non-union. The decision was controversial, given that the film had a budget of $3 million and was filming in union-heavy New York City.
Initially, Baker began filming in 2023 using non-union crew members, but after facing protests from IATSE, they signed a union agreement mid-filming. (See IATSE's 2023 statement announcing that the union forced "Anora" to sign a union contract)
The film also declined to use an intimacy coordinator on the set, a practice that many unions have advocated for whenever sex scenes are filmed in movies.
1 Million Immigrants to Strike on May 1st - Help Us Build Momentum for It
More than a million people are expected to participate in the "Day Without Immigrants" strike on May 1st. Efforts are underway to prepare for these strikes. Still, they are getting little attention in the mainstream media.
While Payday Report tracked smaller "Day Without Immigrants" strikes in 120 cities and 40 states in early February, neither The Washington Post, The New York Times, CNN, or any of the big three media networks did.
Much like how Payday helped to change the narrative about nontraditional walkouts during the pandemic, our strike tracking is helping build momentum for this massive May Day strike.
Please donate to help us cover these massive strikes. If you can, please sign up as one of our recurring donors today.
Deportations Have Doubled Under Trump
According to an analysis by the New York Times, the number of deportations under the Trump Administration has more than doubled.
During the Biden Administration, approximately 255 immigrants were deported today. During the first 6 weeks of the Trump Administration, the number has doubled to an average of 600 a day.
For more, check out the New York Times.
Union Celebrates Kroger CEO Ouster
Across the country, there have been large strikes against Krogers. Now, the company's CEO has been ousted in a major corporate shakeup. The UFCW, representing tens of thousands of workers at the grocery chain, is celebrating the shakeup.
"We took a strike against Kroger's stores in Colorado in 2022 and 2025 to challenge their unfair labor practices," Kim Cordova President of UFCW Local 7 said in a statement. "The issue of chronic understaffing stores in Colorado and around the nation is a crisis we need Kroger to address in negotiations, and we hope this change of CEOs is an opportunity to address this systemic problem."
For more on the shakeup at Krogers', check out Colorado Public Radio.
Some Federal Workers Keep Showing Up After Being Fired
Finally, the Texas Monthly has a look at federal workers who keep showing up for their jobs after being fired:
Bianca Sicich isn't ready to let go of the prairie just yet. It's the last Friday of February, the first green shoots of spring emerging from the overwintering tall grass, and she's up early to volunteer at the Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, a 10,500-acre preserve sixty miles west of Houston. This morning, she's literally counting chickens. She's helping conduct the annual population survey of the Attwater's prairie chicken, an extremely endangered species. At last count, there were only 180 of these birds left in the wild, about 40 of which live at the refuge. The counting happens during mating season, when the males gather in "leks"—areas of shorter grass with high visibility—to perform their mating rituals. The bird spotters look for these leks, in part by listening for the male's "booming," a loud mating call that can be heard from up to a mile away.
Two weeks ago, the thirty-year-old would have been doing this work as a paid employee of the refuge. But on February 14, as part of Elon Musk's chaotic attempts to downsize the federal bureaucracy, Sicich was abruptly fired, along with more than four hundred other employees of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Now she's unemployed, her life upended, but she's still showing up to the refuge to work—as a volunteer. A biologist with a master's degree in fish, wildlife, and conservation ecology and seven years of experience, Sicich is a fan of the strange birds—with their elaborate mating rituals and vivid plumage—and of the tiny remnant of coastal prairie that once covered six million acres. "I woke up at five-thirty in the morning and got out there before the sun was up," she said. "The prairie habitat is, a lot of times, overlooked. People are like, 'Oh, it's just grass,' or whatever. But prairies are so peaceful. This morning it was just the sounds of the birds and the sun coming up."
Sicich is still reeling from her firing. She started getting worried in late January when the first rumblings of terminations at the FWS started. Hired in May 2024, she was still on probationary status. On February 13, Sicich was in Arizona, working at Cibola National Wildlife Refuge, which doesn't have a single full-time employee. That night, she couldn't sleep, so at 1 a.m., she texted her supervisor. Was there any word on what might happen with probationary employees at the FWS? "I just can't help freaking out," she wrote. The next morning, at 9 a.m., her boss—"the best boss I've ever worked for"—texted back that she didn't need to worry. Sicich was relieved. She loved her job.
For more, check out the Texas Monthly.
News & Headlines Elsewhere
- Denver's Alamo Drafthouse strike ends with promise to rehire 3 workers, union says
- Harvard Students Walk Out of Class To Protest Time Caps for Academic Workers
- Southern California grocery workers build on Colorado strike
- Volkswagen parts distributor workers in New Jersey file to unionize following Chattanooga victory
- Tennessee Lyft & Uber Drivers Banned from Nashville Airport following shutdown protests
- REI board blocks labor-backed candidates from ballot
- Finally, Sesame Street employees are unionizing.
Alright yinz, we will be take more on the attacks facing federal workers. Keep sending ideas and tips to melk@paydayreport.com
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Melk
