Folks,
Greetings from the Burgh, where we are celebrating this newsletter, today being the 1,000 articles published by Payday Report since our founding 7 years ago in Chattanooga.
Celebration for 1,000th Article Published by Payday Report
I can’t believe that Payday today is publishing our 1,000th Article. Slowly, we have built a small labor publication that has won widespread acclaim.
Our work as the first outlet to systematically track the strike wave during the pandemic has been widely recognized by everyone from the Washington Post to NPR’s “All Things Considered” to filmmaker Boots Riley. In 2021, we were even nominated for an Emmy.
As a small, crowdfunded labor publication based in my hometown Pittsburgh, we’ve enormously impacted the conversation nationally and internationally. I just want to throw a big party to thank everyone.
On Friday, April 21st, at 5 pm, we will have a happy hour at the Warehouse, a cool Black-owned sports bar in Squirrel Hill. There’s going to be a DJ, and it should be a pretty sweet party. RSVP here on Facebook.
Can’t make it? You can donate here.
PNC Park Workers to Strike on 4/20
As Payday celebrates its 1,000th Article published, we are preparing for our greatest challenge as a yinzer labor publication as workers have called a strike on 4/20 at PNC Park.
Earlier today, the old-school independent union, Pittsburgh Stadium Independent Employees Union, announced that they found themselves frustrated with ongoing contract talks and were going on strike this Thursday on 4/20.
Currently, ticket ushers at PNC Park make only $ 9.35 an hour. Many of the ushers are retirees who enjoy working part-time and making a little extra money. However, with ushers making only $35 on average per ballgame, some ushers after paying gas, transportation costs & taxes, are actually losing money to work at PNC Park.
Now, their union is demanding that ticket ushers make a minimum of $18.65-an.hour, but so far, after multiple rounds of bargaining, management is only offering $ 12.40 an hour. However, through multiple rounds of negotiations, the Pittsburgh Pirates have refused to agree to the union’s demands for a living wage as dictated by the union.
In an insult to billionaire Pittsburgh owners Bob Nutting, Pirates workers have threatened to strike under the banner “Pay Nutting, Get Nutting.” If workers don’t reach a contract by Thursday, they say that they will picket the 4/20 game at 6:30 against the Cincinnati Reds.
On their website, the Pittsburgh Stadium Independent Employees union encourages fans to walk the picket line at PNC Park and “go to the Dollar Store and buy poster board. Use a marker to write one of the following suggested messages or come up with one of your own, but please keep it professional and non derogatory.”
For more info on the 4/20 strike at PNC Park, check out the Pittsburgh Stadium Independent Employees Union website.
Raise $420 to Cover the 4/20 Pittsburgh Pirates Strike.
As a labor reporter and lifelong Pittsburgh Pirates fan, I can’t tell you how excited I am to cover the 4/20 Strike at PNC Park. This will be fascinating, and we will need your help to cover it.
If we can raise $420 to cover the 4/20 strike at PNC Park, I’ll be really in the zone and focus on the story instead of crowdfunding this week.
Donate to help us cover this crucial strike on 4/20 at PNC. Please sign up as one of our 751 recurring donors today if you can.
155,000 Canadian Workers to Strike on Thursday
Also, on Thursday, Canada’s largest federal workers union, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, is threatening to take its 155,000 members out on strike this week.
“We’ve already been at the table for nearly two years and these workers can’t wait any longer. That’s why we’re setting a clock on this round of bargaining,” union president Chris Aylward told CTV News.
9,000 Hollywood TV Writers in Writers Guild Vote to Strike
Today, 9,000 Hollywood TV writers, and members of the Writers Guild, voted overwhelmingly to strike, with 97% of writers voting in favor. The strike would be the first Hollywood TV writer’s strike since 2007.
TV writers say they see no path forward to achieving a fair deal with Hollywood unless they strike.
“After several weeks at the bargaining table, [the studios] have failed to offer meaningful responses on the core economic issues in any of the WGA’s primary work areas — screen, episodic television and comedy-variety,” the union said in a statement. “They have listened politely to our presentations and made small moves in only a few areas, almost entirely coupled with rollbacks designed to offset any gains. In short, the studioFinally, the Daily Beast has a look at how Republicans plan to use Julie Su’s Senate confirmation hearings to embarrass the labor movement. s have shown no sign that they intend to address the problems our members are determined to fix in this negotiation. “
Strikes & News Happening Elsewhere
- Fed Ex pilots move to strike
- Crains Detroit has a good look at how auto suppliers are vulnerable to a strike
- Starbucks workers celebrate 300 workplaces as a downtown Sacramento goes union
- Steelworkers call on paper industry to implement protection against deadly fungal infections that have already killed one union members at a plant in Michigan
- Ski Patrol workers continue to unionize in the Rocky Mountain with a recent win in Loveland, Colorado.
- After a rural hospital closes in California, immigrant farmworkers pay the price
Alright folks that’s all for today. RSVP for our 1,000 Article Celebration on Friday at the Warehouse in Squirrel Hill (next to the Manor). We’re gonna have a DJ & its gonna be lit!
Donate to help us cover the 4/20 Strike at PNC Park. Please, if you can, sign up as one of our 751 recurring donors today.
Keep sending tips, story ideas, recipes and random ideas to melk@paydayreport.com
Love & Solidarity,
Melk
