Folks,
Greetings from the Burgh, where we are mourning the death of Ray Liotta.
Watch “Corrina, Corrina” to Honor Ray Liotta
While many remembrances of him are focused on his portrayal as a gangster, my favorite Ray Liotta film is 1994’s “Corrina, Corrina,” starring Whoppi Goldberg. Liotta portrays a Jewish widower, a piano player and jingle writer in the 1950s, who falls in love with Whoppi Goldberg and challenges his neighbors’ scorn of interracial relationships.
Facing 4th Union Drive, Apple Raises Pay to $22/hour Minimum at its Retail Store
Yesterday, workers at an Apple Store in Louisville announced that they intended to unionize, making it the fourth Apple store in the country to do so.
With organizers expecting Apple stores to quickly unionize—similar to how Starbucks workers are organizing—Apple is going on the offensive to try to soften union sentiment. This week, they announced they were raising retail workers’ pay to $22/hour. This is up from $17/hour in retail stores.
The move by Apple comes as the company’s vice president warned that a union could make it more difficult to improve working conditions.
“We have a relationship that’s based on an open and collaborative and direct engagement, which I feel could fundamentally change if a store is represented by a union under a collective bargaining agreement,” Deirdre O’Brien, Apple’s vice president of retail and people, said in a video sent to Apple’s 58,000 retail employees in the US and obtained by Vice.
Blue Man Group Busts Union Drive at Their Private School
The Blue Man Group is a legendary musical act that, in addition to their work on stage, also sponsors a private school in Manhattan. However, over 40 educators are on strike after the school refused to recognize their union.
“The tactics employed by the school to thwart unionization are the same as those used by Blue Man Group when the stagehands union sought to organize the Las Vegas theater where the Blue Man Group was performing in 2005,” the union said in a statement. “Matt Goldman, founder of the Blue Man Group and current Vice-Chair of Blue School’s Board of Trustees, originally pledged to honor election results in the stagehands’ vote to unionize, but later refused to recognize the union and continually appealed the results of the election.”
For more, check out the union’s press release here
Following Strike, Great Lakes Coffee Closes Main Detroit Location
In February, workers at Great Lakes Coffee’s midtown Detroit location went on strike to demand recognition of their union. Ultimately, the company refused to recognize the union and announced this week that they were closing the location.
“It’s upsetting knowing they would rather close the building itself than to talk to us about our union,” worker Lex Bloom told the Detroit Free Press.
For more, check out the Detroit Free Press
PA AFL-CIO President Resigns Amid Accusations
After the accusations became public, national AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler ordered an investigation into Synder’s behavior. Rather than have the report go public, Snyder chose to retire.
News & Strikes Happening Elsewhere
- Tennessee Lockout has a long look at the rise in Latino construction deaths in Nashville
- Twin Cities mental health workers gather for one-day strike
- American Red Cross accused of bargaining in bad faith with its union
- Nearly 1-in-5 Amazon delivery drivers gets hurt on the job each year, new report says
- Removal of a Maine art display brings century-old Skowhegan labor strike into focus
- Finally, Elle magazine has a look at whether labor leaders can be fashion icons
Alright folks, that’s all for today. Keep sending story ideas, tips, links, and comments to melk@paydayreport.com
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Thanks again for all of the support!
Love & Solidarity,
Melk
