We have lots of great labor news to report!

From Portland DSA:

Organizing for Power: Core Fundamentals
(training by Jane McAlevey, author of "No Shortcuts" & "Rules to Win By")
Thursdays, May 9 - June 13, 9-11am (PT) or 5-7PM (PT)
Groups of ten or more (get your co-workers lined up now!)
O4P's Core Fundamentals is a six-week intensive training program composed or weekly sessions divided into lectures and practice time, plus campaign assignments that organizing groups are expected to complete on their own time.
Each session runs twice each Thursday to accommodate our global audience.
The registration deadline is May Day, 2024, so begin assembling your group of 10+ now, because we're only going to win if we're in this together, disciplined and committed, and ready to build our skill sets to ORGANIZE FOR POWER. Please contact O4P Coordinator Ethan Earle (earle.ethan@gmail.com) with any questions.
REGISTER: http://tinyurl.com/O4PCoreFundamental

Universal City AMC Workers Vote to Unionize With IATSE

From IATSE:

Ushers, cooks, bartenders and all other non-management employees at the Universal Cinema AMC at CityWalk Hollywood have officially voted to unionize with IATSE! In an election that took place March 15, workers overwhelmingly voted in favor of joining together in union. The Universal Cinema AMC is the second location of the theater chain to unionize with IATSE, after the AMC Dine-In South Bay Galleria 16 in Redondo Beach.

“We are incredibly happy that the workers at the AMC Citywalk theater banded together to join IATSE with an 86 percent majority yes vote in the recent union election,” Universal Cinema AMC crewmembers Savannah Copeland and Maria Lubanovic said. “These past few months have shown how dedicated the crewmembers are not only to improve the workplace for themselves, but for everyone around them. It is truly inspiring to see how much they care for each other.” Full story ➔

Meet today’s Womens History Month spotlight, Mykaila Williams. Williams is a proud Local728 member who is not only a champion in the labor movement but a leader in her community. Talk about Union Strong! Mykaila is currently working on commercials, music videos and day playing on television shows as a Set Lighting Technician. Since joining IATSE in February of 2023, Mykaila has worked on several projects, volunteered in mutual aid efforts and was selected to represent Local 728 at the 2024 Young Workers Committee Conference. "While working on projects has been fun and extremely fulfilling, nothing has quite yet topped how proud I felt to successfully get my union card in the mail."

From the National Union of Healthcare Workers:

More than 400 NUHW members struck Seton Medical Center in Daly City on March 25 and 26, demanding that the hospital restore their health benefits.

Every Bay Area news station covered the strike as workers shared their experience of working at the community hospital for decades only to no longer be able to access health care for themselves or their children.

“I’m worried about my family, my kids not having basic insurance that works,” Julia Vinogratsky, a respiratory therapist at the hospital with three children, told KQED. ”The closest doctors are about 45 minutes to an hour’s drive.”

Rachelle Ortua, a materials management technician at Seton, told KPIX-5 that she recently had to delay vaccinations for her then-four-month-old daughter because her doctor wouldn’t take her new insurance and that the nearest hospital available to treat her daughter is more than an hour’s drive from her Sunnyvale apartment.

In violation of their union contracts, AHMC Healthcare changed its health plans on Jan. 1, forcing all workers at Seton, including NUHW members to either pay up to $6,000 a year to keep access to their doctors and hospitals or accept a new health plan with very few participating doctors mostly based in San Francisco and only two participating hospital systems: John Muir Health and Seton, which doesn’t offer pediatric or prenatal care. READ MORE HERE.

Important Note: The National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) website has an important interview with Sandra Leal-Lopez, LMFT concerning upcoming contract negotiations between the union and Kaiser. One subject that is driving these negotiations and making them contentious is the matter of Kaiser cutting patient management time. Another is working conditions and working time. Sister Leal-Lopez gave a credible and interesting interview in which she explains her union's position as bargaining begins. I highly recommend reading this and considering how it impacts workers here in Oregon and what it has to teach us. Please read it here.

The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 brought home a victory:

And in California:

Starting April, California fast food workers will earn $20/hour. $20 an hour is good for California’s fast food workers and employers.

See the California Fast Food Workers Union for details and analysis.

From the Union of Southern Service Workers:

Hit this link and this link and this link to learn more.

From More Perfect Union:

From CWA:

CWA Members Reach Landmark Collective Bargaining Agreement at SEGA

CWA Local 9510 members at SEGA of America voted to ratify their first collectively bargained contract on Tuesday. The contract covers 150 full-time and temporary employees across a range of job titles, including designers, translators, editors, producers, quality assurance testers, marketing managers, and more.

"This is a watershed moment for workers in the video game industry. We've proven that a collectively bargained contract with substantial improvements and protections is possible even when management takes an initially hostile stance toward worker organizing. We’re hopeful that in the midst of extensive layoffs, workers across the video game industry will see organizing as a pathway to improve working conditions for all of us,” said Local 9510 member Jasmin Hernandez, a Short-Form Animation Production Manager at SEGA.

The ratified contract includes raises that ensure equitable compensation across titles and departments, layoff protections, requirements to provide notice of planned use of AI, and more.

"Workers in the video game industry have contributed to the success of multiple games and companies that have become household names. Yet, that hasn’t translated into the fair wages, job stability, or career trajectories they deserve. Workers at SEGA of America have just shown what is possible by standing together to demand the respect their hard work has earned," said CWA Local 9510 President Peter O'Brien.

NewsGuild-CWA Members at Law360 Stage 24-Hour Solidarity Walkout

NewsGuild-CWA workers at LexisNexis-owned Law360 (TNG-CWA Local 31003) took to the streets last week with a 24-hour work stoppage in protest of recent layoffs that violate labor law. Despite the company showing impressive revenue growth, management announced the termination of 26 union members. CWA Unit Chair Hailey Konnath said, “This walkout is an unequivocal demonstration of solidarity for our co-workers who lost their jobs. The success of Law360 is due in no small part to us and the work we produce. Today we are showing the company that we—including those who lost their jobs—are Law360.”

CWA Workers at Law360 have been without a contract since 2022, and negotiations have been ongoing since then to finalize a new collective bargaining agreement. Changes to workplace terms and conditions after a contract has expired, including layoffs, must be negotiated and agreed to by the NewsGuild. Failure to maintain the workplace status quo is a violation of labor law and is the basis of an unfair labor practice charge filed by The NewsGuild of New York on behalf of Law360 Union earlier this month.

“Our entire union stands in solidarity with the workers who have been laid off,” said Susan DeCarava, president of The NewsGuild of New York. “If management continues to refuse to bargain in good faith and reverse these unlawful layoffs, labor peace will be difficult to come by at Law360.”