Folks,
Greetings from the Burgh, where I am getting out a late newsletter as I struggle with some asthma issues.
Help Pay $462 Health Insurance Premium.
As we enter allergy season, I will likely visit the doctor more frequently than usual. It is expensive, though, as my monthly health care premium is $462 a month. We need your help to pay the bill.
Trump Admin Vows to Fire “Problem Children” in Air Traffic Control
On Thursday, the federal government reported critical staffing shortages at 11 major airports throughout the United States. Now, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy is vowing to fire what he deems are the “problem children”, who are calling out sick.
“If we have a continual small subset of controllers that don’t show up to work… they’re the problem children,” Duffy told Fox Business yesterday. “We need more controllers, but we need the best and the brightest, the dedicated controllers, and if we have some on our staff that aren’t dedicated like we need, we’re going to let them go.”
For more, check out Fox Business.
Writers Guild to Fight Bari Weiss Takeover of CBS News
Earlier this week, CBS News announced that Bari Weiss, founder of the right-wing Free Press, would be taking over as editor-in-chief of CBS News. This is despite Weiss, a favorite of the Trump Administration, having no experience in broadcast news.
Weiss is expected to purge left-leaning staffers from the news organization. The Writers Guild of America East urged staffers not to cooperate. From Variety:
Weiss told CBS News staffers in a memo Friday morning that she was eager “to understand how you spend your working hours — and ideally, what you’ve made (or are making) that you are most proud of.” She asked every employee at the news division to send her a memo providing those details by Tuesday, Oct. 14, as well as “your views on what’s working; what’s broken or substandard; and how we can be better.” Weiss said all responses “will be held in the strictest of confidence.”
In an email to WGA members obtained by Variety, union reps said, “We are aware that Bari Weiss sent an email asking CBS employees to provide information about their jobs and feedback about CBS News. Many of you have expressed concern to us about the purpose of the email, and we share those concerns.”
The WGA email continued, “That is why we sent the company an immediate demand to provide information about the email by Monday. We suggest that you refrain from responding until we are able to share the information that we receive so that you can make an informed decision by the Tuesday deadline.” The WGA email was sent by Michael Isaac, Director of Broadcast/Cable/Streaming News, and field representatives Brandon West, Sophie Martin, and Dana Trentalange.
LA Times Journalist Authorizes a Strike
In LA, reporters at the LA Times have voted; more than 85% of the 200 union members at the newspaper have authorized a strike.
“These negotiations have dragged on for far too long, and today’s vote results show that our members are fed up,” LA Times Guild chair Matt Hamilton, an investigative reporter at the paper, said in a statement. “Now is the time for management to come to the table with a proposal that is truly fair for our members and helps restore the Times.”
For more, check out the Hollywood Reporter.
32,000 Michigan Home Healthcare Workers Vote to Unionize
Finally, more than 32,000 Michigan home healthcare workers have voted to unionize with SEIU Healthcare Michigan. The move comes after the Michigan legislature gave home healthcare workers the right to unionize.
“It’s a voice for us. Something that we have been missing in the state of Michigan for homecare workers. From the past, they would tell us what we’re going to get based on what they felt that we did. Negotiating with the state, we can’t do that alone,” said home healthcare worker Ruby Cramer in a statement.
For more, check out Michigan Public Radio.
Alright, folks, that’s all for this week. Keep sending comments, complaints, and cooking recipes to melk@paydayreport.com
Thanks again for all the support.
Melk
