Every week, we bring you a roundup of the top news and commentary about issues and events important to working families. Here’s the latest edition of the Working People Weekly List.
Faculty at Second City Poised to Go on Strike: "The Chicago Federation of Labor said the faculty, music directors, and facilitators at Second City voted to join the Association of International Comedy Educators in 2021. The union said Second City leadership walked away from the table in December after three years of bargaining."
IATSE President: Workers 'Ready to Fight' in Upcoming Contract Talks with Studios: "IATSE international president Matthew Loeb did not rule out a potential 2024 crew strike when several of his union’s contracts come due this year in an appearance on Tuesday. 'Nothing is off the table, and we’re not going to give up our strength and our ability because they [studios] think they sapped us and everybody’s bank account got sapped because they were unreasonable for months and months,' asserted the crew union leader of his organization’s upcoming basic agreement negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, set to start in early March. 'My folks aren’t going to just settle.'"
Video Game Workers Need to Further Unionize in 2024: "2023 was great for gamers. An incredible amount of fantastic new video games were released, like Baldur’s Gate 3, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and far too many more to list. Many have called it the best year for video games in over a decade. However, as several media commentators have already pointed out, the year was also a terrible one for the people who make video games. Over 10,000 people were estimated to have been laid off in the video game industry over the past year, about 10 times the amount of layoffs in 2022."
Employees, Not ‘Independent Contractors’: Labor Department Cracks Down on Bosses’ Misclassification Abuse: "The AFL-CIO praised the new curbs on independent contractors when DOL issued its draft of this new rule this past October. 'By restoring commonsense rules to determine who is an employee, and making it harder for employers to intentionally misclassify their employees as independent contractors, DOL’s announcement will increase protections and expand benefits to so many working people who have been subjected to corporate work-arounds,' federation President Liz Shuler said."
Ascension Union Now More Than 1,000 Nurses Strong: "National Nurses United grew this week after 96% of nurses voted in 225 new members to the Ascension Seton nurses’ union. Those 225 join 825 already unionized nurses who have been negotiating a contract with Ascension since they unionized with 72% of nurses voting in favor in the fall of 2022. Crucially, the new members are residents and fellows, who were previously barred from joining."
Millions of Gig Workers Could Qualify as Employees Under New Biden Rule: "Millions of gig workers, janitors, home-care workers, construction workers and truckers could be considered employees rather than independent contractors under a final rule announced Tuesday by the Labor Department. The rule effectively expands the reach of federal labor laws that require employers to extend certain benefits and protections to workers classified as employees. Those include the right to the minimum wage, overtime pay, unemployment insurance and Social Security benefits—which employers are not required to provide to independent contractors. The rule will 'help create a level playing field for businesses, protect workers from being denied the right to fair pay and affirm the vital role true independent contractors play in our economy by allowing them to thrive,' acting labor secretary Julie Su told reporters on a call Monday."
New Jersey Labor Movement Has Record Number of Union Members Sworn into the Legislature: "Today is the beginning of the new legislative session and the New Jersey State Labor Movement made history. The 2024/2025 Legislature will have a total of nine union members serving. They are State Senators Vin Gopal (IBEW Local 400), Paul Moriarty (SAG-AFTRA), Troy Singleton (UBC) and Latham Tiver (IUOE Local 825). In the Assembly are Wayne DeAngelo (IBEW Local 269), Christian Barranco (IBEW Local 102), Kevin Egan (IBEW Local 456), William Sampson (ILA) and Anthony Verrelli (UBC)."
Workplace Fatalities Up 5.7% in 2022: "'Every workplace fatality represents a family member who will never return home after a shift. An empty chair at the dinner table that never again will be filled. A loss that ripples through entire communities,' AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said, 'We cannot and will not accept these tragedies as inevitable. Workplace deaths are preventable, but unchecked employers blame workers and treat people as disposable.'"
Las Vegas Hospitality Worker Unions Set Feb. 2 Strike Deadline: "Unions representing hospitality workers in Las Vegas said on Monday they will ask their 7,700 members to go on a strike on Feb. 2, if they do not have a labor contract by then. The Culinary Workers and Bartenders Unions are engaged in contract negotiations with 21 casino resorts in Las Vegas. The unions warned that they might launch targeted strikes sooner at individual properties if contract negotiations break down ahead of the strike deadline."
Twin Cities Postal Workers Rally Over Reported Spike in Targeted Robberies, Assaults: "Letter carriers for the United States Postal Service say violent crimes—namely assaults and robberies—against them have been through the roof in recent years. Union leadership for the National Association of Letter Carriers at a rally on the steps of Minneapolis’ central post office on Sunday said U.S. Postal Inspection Service data shows there have been 2,000 attacks against letter carriers across the country since 2020."
NLRB Complaint Alleges Lucid Fired Employees for Union Effort: "A federal labor regulator has filed a complaint against electric vehicle maker Lucid, accusing the company of firing two employees who supported a United Auto Workers union organizing effort at the company. The complaint was filed Tuesday by a regional director of the National Labor Relations Board in Arizona, who investigated the claim about the firings early last year. It was disclosed by the agency late Thursday."
IBEW Local 98 and Building Trades Announce The Superhero Project as Charity Partner for 2024 All Star Labor Classic: "The Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council has set a fundraising goal of $200,000 for the 2024 All Star Labor Classic, which would be the largest charitable donation the Superhero Project has ever received. This year’s showcase of the region’s best high school basketball players will be played on Sunday, April 14th at Holy Family University in Northeast Philadelphia."
At Least Five States Are Considering Requiring Full Minimum Wages for Tip Earners This Year: "Five states are deciding this year whether to ditch the practice of paying workers who earn tips less than the minimum wage. And activists say they’re bringing that fight to at least as many others, framing it as a key cost-of-living issue in an election year. Ballot measures pending in Michigan, Arizona, Ohio and Massachusetts, and a bill being reintroduced in Connecticut would eliminate a longstanding two-tiered pay system for tip-earning hourly workers like restaurant servers and bartenders, who earn a lower 'subminimum' wage than their nontipped counterparts. Only seven states already pay a single minimum wage regardless of tips. While more than two dozen others have raised subminimum pay for tip earners above the federal $2.13-an-hour floor—a rate last increased in 1991—those workers still earn less in base pay than their states’ minimum wage."