Tag: Labor unions

On the picket lines with Hollywood’s actors and writers, from LA to New York
Entertainment

On the picket lines with Hollywood’s actors and writers, from LA to New York

LOS ANGELES -- It's a “Strike Girl Summer.”So read a picket sign as the sidewalks of Hollywood and midtown Manhattan teemed with actors on Day 1 of their strike, protesting alongside the writers who have been at it since May. Together, the two guilds have ground the entertainment industry to a halt. On both coasts, though, there was a buoyant mood in the air as picket lines were reinvigorated by the support of some of the 65,000 actors who comprise SAG-AFTRA (98% of members voted to approve a strike back in June). This is Hollywood's biggest labor fight in six decades, and the first dual strike since 1960, reigniting the fervor against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers just as a historic heat wave hits Southern California.Outside the Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, ...
Hollywood actors join screenwriters in historic industry-stopping strike as contract talks collapse
Entertainment

Hollywood actors join screenwriters in historic industry-stopping strike as contract talks collapse

LOS ANGELES -- Leaders of a Hollywood’s actors union voted Thursday to join screenwriters in the first joint strike in more than six decades, shutting down production across the entertainment industry after talks for a new contract with studios and streaming services broke down.Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, executive director of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Radio and Television Artists, said at a news conference that the union leadership voted for the work stoppage hours after their contract expired and talks broke off with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers representing employers including Disney, Netflix, Amazon and others.“A strike is an instrument of last resort,” he said. Union leaders said at a news conference that they voted unanimously for a strik...
Teamsters, UPS Point Fingers As Strike Deadline Nears
Business

Teamsters, UPS Point Fingers As Strike Deadline Nears

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters said Wednesday that negotiations over a new contract with shipping giant UPS had “collapsed,” increasing the odds of a massive strike next month.The two sides still have time to reach a new agreement and avoid a work stoppage, with the current contract in effect until July 31. But the Teamsters had said they wanted a new tentative deal in place by the end of the July 4 holiday to give workers time to digest and vote on it.On Wednesday morning, the Teamsters accused UPS of refusing to give them a “last, best and final offer” by that deadline. “This multibillion-dollar corporation has plenty to give American workers ― they just don’t want to,” Sean O’Brien, the union’s president, said in a statement. “UPS had a choice to make, and they have clearly...
Stalled contract jeopardizes relations between new Disney governing body and firefighters
Entertainment

Stalled contract jeopardizes relations between new Disney governing body and firefighters

ORLANDO, Fla. -- After appointees of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took over Walt Disney World’s governing district earlier this year, its firefighters were among the few employees who publicly welcomed them with open arms.But that warm relationship is in jeopardy as a new district administrator has reopened negotiations on a contract that was approved last month by the unionized firefighters, promising pay raises and more manpower.A vote on the contract originally was targeted for last month during a meeting of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board of supervisors. But it was never brought up, and it did not appear on an agenda released ahead of the next meeting scheduled for Wednesday.Under the three-year contract proposal overwhelmingly approved by 200 firefighters and first ...