Labor Union Blog

Some actors will receive more pay and residuals for work that appears on new media under a contract reached with studios this weekend. The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists approved a new three year contract on Friday and it is expected to be ratified by the unions 70,000 members. With the AFTRA contract out of the way negotiations will now heat up between the studios and the 120,000 member strong Screen Actors Guild. This was the first time in 27 years that the two unions chose to negotiate separately. SAG had sent a letter to AFTRA asking the federation to delay ratification of the new contract until the guild could complete negotiations.

Some actors will receive more pay and residuals for work that appears on new media under a contract reached with studios this weekend. The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists approved a new three year contract on Friday and it is expected to be ratified by the unions 70,000 members. With the AFTRA contract out of the way negotiations will now heat up between the studios and the 120,000 member strong Screen Actors Guild. This was the first time in 27 years that the two unions chose to negotiate separately. SAG had sent a letter to AFTRA asking the federation to delay ratification of the new contract until the guild could complete negotiations.

Lede: Thanks to the National Association of Letter Carriers union, food pantries will be better stocked this summer. Doug Cunningham reports.

By Doug Cunningham
A record 73.1 million pounds of food donations were collected in the letter carriers’ annual food drive, the nation’s largest one-day effort to fight hunger. The food is being delivered to food pantries, local food banks and shelters to help needy families in all fifty states. National Association of Letter Carriers President William Young thanked the millions of American families who donated food for the drive and the many thousands of letter carriers, volunteers and other postal employees who made the food drive happen. This year’s collection brought the 16 year total for the letter carriers food collections to 909 million pounds. The hunger drive was active in over 10,000 cities and towns and it beat the old collection record set in 2005.

Workers alleging they were misled into coming to the United States by oil rig company, Signal International, and recruiters are entering their fourth week of a hunger strike. The workers allege the company and its recruiters told them that if they paid $20,000 for visas to come work in the United States, they would be able to permanently live and work here. The visas that they were provided with are actually H-2B visas which are for temporary work. Signal International has said it was also misled by the recruiters that they contracted to find the workers in India and bring them to the Gulf Coast.

Catholic Worker founder Dorothy Day

It was 75 years ago when two priests, a nun and a devout Catholic woman named Dorothy Day scraped together $57 and printed 2,500 copies of a tabloid newspaper they called the Catholic Worker. They made their way to Union Square in lower Manhattan, where they sold copies of their paper for one cent each.

The impact of the first issue, according to the author Dwight MacDonald, was “an ambiguous thud.” The Catholic Worker wasn’t exactly a media giant. The first several issues were written by Day on her kitchen table. She had to sell her typewriter to pay for the second issue.

But that shoestring operation was the beginning of the Catholic Worker movement, one of the most remarkable allies American union members have ever had.