#hot strike summer

[thefirsthogokage]

The. Deal. Is. So. Good.

Couldn't get the link to the side-by-side of the WGA offer, the AMPTP counter offer from May, and the final deal, because it's a document to download and too many pictures to take for this post that probably wouldn't be legible, but it's in this tweet (click the link below the tweet to go to said tweet):

Don't forget,the fight isn't over for SAG-AFTRA and next year, contracts are up again for IATSE, including The Animation Guild.

If you're a fan of movies, tv, and animation, keep helping the guilds fight the good fight!

Also, please support the other unions that are out their now fighting their own fights including Amazon workers, Local 11 in LA, and Flight Attendants!

And of course, big thanks to strike hero Drew Carey for paying for probably THOUSANDS of meals for striking writers in LA these past five months.

Congratulations WGA and Pre-WGA for your amazing wins with this contract!

#wga strong #wga strike #wga strike wins 2023 #wga strike 2023 #1u #solidarity summer #hot strike summer #summer of solidarity #sag aftra #sag aftra strike #sag aftra strong

[piinfeathers]

just in case anyone missed this in the news or maybe not in the loop, Disney is currently refusing to meet with or acknowledge the newly formed animation production workers union that just voted to join IASTE and become an official part of TAG, the animators and animation artists guild

production workers across all studios are currently voting to be recognized for their hard work and invaluable skill at keeping these productions running, but studios are refusing to meet with them to let them negotiate deals or even exist

as someone who works in animation as a designer i know i wouldn't be able to do my job at all without any of my production workers. they are the incredibly hard working people who oversee pretty much everything in animation. they make sure everything is running on time, that schedules are being followed, they have to know pretty much every single word of the scripts and beats from the storyboards to make sure nothing is missed, and most importantly, they make sure artists are being taken care of and not overworked. they really are the unsung heroes of the animation world

production workers are also by far the most exploited workers in animation currently. they make about a fraction of what artists make for just as much work put in, and currently have no agreement for health coverage or other benefits that artists protected by the union are guaranteed

BUT! there is some good news. right now there's a petition on IATSE's website that has over 80,000 signatures currently addressed to disney leadership to do the right thing and meet with this new union and recognized their vote to form. it still needs roughly 21,000 signatures and only takes a minute to sign! anyone with a zip or postal code can sign, meaning both US and Canadian residents can sign and help this union get the deal it deserves!!

#unions #IATSE strike #strikes #union strong #the animation guild #sag aftra #animation news #figured i would make this a sperate post just to try and reach more people! please consider signing!! #hot strike summer

[dovesndecay]

With the WGA announcement of the possible end to the strike, I do want people to remember that the union's general membership still has to vote for the deal. The workers still have to agree to it.

This isn't the moment to stop paying attention, especially while SAG-AFTRA is still on strike, and let's not forget that The Animation Guild's contract negotiation is right around the corner.

Don't get complacent now.

#original post #wga strike #sag-aftra #hot strike summer

[cryoverkiltmilk]

It's strange to see anyone surprised by Universal using a tactic as cruel as denying even shade to picket line members, in the heat-based hellscape that is Los Angeles. So let's try to condense the explanation.

By and large, executives are people who already come from wealth and privilege, and have that wealth and privilege protected throughout their life as they're escorted through whatever levels of education and then into employment.

Most of them have never received any kind of culture shock to make them aware of the struggles of 'lessers'. Their parents and peers had a vested interest in keeping the then-children from mixing with 'those people'.

They are insulated enough from daily life that they no longer see anyone outside their immediate wealth and influence bracket as human.

So a strike, to them, is not "people who want enough money to live and work in health", it's "The machine that makes us money is broken, get those workers back into their jobs so we can keep making money."

So the executives treat the strike like they would a broken machine or a disobedient pet. Hit it until it works, and replace it if it breaks.

And don't doubt for one minute that this wasn't at the advice of a Pinkerton or similar union-busting agency consultant. This is more than just petty; this is tactical cruely.

#strikes #executives #eat the rich #wga strike #sag strike #sag aftra strike #sag aftra #sag #tree law #universal pictures #los angeles #hot strike summer #hotstrikesummer

[iww-gnv]

Visual effects crews at Marvel Studios today filed for a unionization election with the National Labor Relations Board, with a supermajority of Marvel’s more than 50-worker crew having signed authorization cards saying they want to be represented by IATSE. “We are witnessing an unprecedented wave of solidarity that’s breaking down old barriers in the industry and proving we’re all in this fight together,” said IATSE President Matthew Loeb. “That doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Entertainment workers everywhere are sticking up for each other’s rights, that’s what our movement is all about. I congratulate these workers on taking this important step and using their collective voice.” According to the union, “this marks the first time VFX professionals have joined together to demand the same rights and protections as their unionized colleagues in the film industry.”

#news #unions #labor organizing #hollywood #vfx #vfx union #cgi #hot strike summer #labor unions

[mostlysignssomeportents]

When the app tries to make you robo-scab

When we talk about the abusive nature of gig work, there’s some obvious targets, like algorithmic wage discrimination, where two workers are paid different rates for the same job, in order to trick occasional gig-workers to give up their other sources of income and become entirely dependent on the app:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men

Then there’s the opacity — imagine if your boss refused to tell you how much you’ll get paid for a job until after you’ve completed it, claimed that this was done in order to “protect privacy” — and then threatened anyone who helped you figure out the true wage on offer:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/07/hr-4193/#boss-app

Opacity is wage theft’s handmaiden: every gig worker producing content for a social media algorithm is subject to having their reach — and hence their pay — cut based on the unaccountable, inscrutable decisions of a content moderation system:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/10/e2e/#the-censors-pen

Making content for an algorithm is like having a boss that docks every paycheck because you broke rules that you are not allowed to know, because if you knew the rules, you’d figure out how to cheat without your boss catching you. Content moderation is the last place where security through obscurity is considered good practice:

https://doctorow.medium.com/como-is-infosec-307f87004563

When workers seize the means of computation, amazing things happen. In Indonesia, gig workers create and trade tuyul apps that let them unilaterally modify the way that their bosses’ systems see them — everything from GPS spoofing to accessibility mods:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/07/08/tuyul-apps/#gojek

So the tech and labor story isn’t wholly grim: there are lots of ways that tech can enhance labor struggles, letting workers collaborate and coordinate. Without digital systems, we wouldn’t have the Hot Strike Summer:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/02/not-what-it-does/#who-it-does-it-to

As the historic writer/actor strike shows us, the resurgent labor movement and the senescent forces of crapulent capitalism are locked in a death-struggle over not just what digital tools do, but who they do it for and who they do it to:

https://locusmag.com/2022/01/cory-doctorow-science-fiction-is-a-luddite-literature/

When it comes to the epic fight over who technology acts for and against, we need a diversity of tactics, backstopped by tech operated by and for its users — and by laws that protect workers and the public. That dynamic is in sharp focus in UNITE Here Local 11’s strike against Orange County’s Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort & Spa.

The UNITE Here strike turns on the usual issues like a living wage (hotel staff are paid so little they have to rent rooming-house beds by the shift, paying for the right to sleep in a room for a few hours at a time, without any permanent accommodation). They’re also seeking health-care and pensions, so they can be healthy at work and retire after long service. Finally, they’re seeking their employer’s support for LA’s Responsible Hotels Ordinance, which would levy a tax on hotel rooms to help pay for hotel workers’ housing costs (a hotel worker who can’t afford a bed is the equivalent of a fast food worker who has to apply for food stamps):

https://www.unitehere11.org/responsible-hotels-ordinance/

But the Marriott — which is owned by the University of California and managed by Aimbridge Hospitality — has refused to bargain, walking out negotiations.

But the employer didn’t walk out over wages, benefits or support for a housing subsidy. They walked out when workers demanded that the scabs that the company was trying to hire to break the strike be given full time, union jobs.

These aren’t just any scabs, either. They’re predominantly Black workers who rely on the $700m Instawork app for gigs. These workers are being dispatched to cross the picket line without any warning that they’re being contracted as strikebreakers. When workers refuse the cross the picket and join the strike, Instawork cancels all their shifts and permanently blocks them from new jobs.

This is a new, technologically supercharged form of illegal strikebreaking. It’s one thing for a single boss to punish a worker who refuses to scab, but Instawork acts as a plausible-deniability filter for all the major employers in the region. Like the landlord apps that allow landlords to illegally fix rents by coordinating hikes, Instawork lets bosses illegally collude to rig wages by coordinating a blocklist of workers who refuse to scab:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/10/company-that-makes-rent-setting-software-for-landlords-sued-for-collusion/?comments=1

The racial dimension is really important here: the Marriott has a longstanding de facto policy of refusing to hire Black workers, and whenever they are confronted with this, they insist that there are no qualified Black workers in the labor pool. But as soon as the predominantly Latino workforce struck, Marriott discovered a vast Black workforce that it could coerce into scabbing, in collusion with Instawork.

Now, all of this isn’t just sleazy, it’s illegal, a violation of Section 7 of the NLRB Act. Historically, that wouldn’t have mattered, because a string of presidents, R and D, have appointed useless do-nothing ghouls to run the NLRB. But the Biden admin, pushed by the party’s left wing, made a string of historic, excellent appointments, including NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, who has set her sights on punishing gig work companies for flouting labor law:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/01/10/see-you-in-the-funny-papers/#bidens-legacy

UNITE HERE 11 has brought a case to the NLRB, charging the Instawork, the UC system, Marriott, and Aimbridge with violating labor law by blackmailing gig workers into crossing the picket line. The union is also asking the NLRB to punish the companies for failing to protect workers from violent retaliation from the wealthy hotel guests who have punched them and screamed epithets at them. The hotel has refused to identify these thug guests so that the workers they assaulted can swear out complaints against them.

Writing about the strike for Jacobin, Alex N Press tells the story of Thomas Bradley, a Black worker who was struck off all Instawork shifts for refusing to cross the picket line and joining it instead:

https://jacobin.com/2023/07/southern-california-hotel-workers-strike-automated-management-unite-here

Bradley’s case is exhibit A in the UNITE HERE 11 case before the NLRB. He has a degree in culinary arts, but racial discrimination in the industry has kept him stuck in gig and temp jobs ever since he graduated, nearly a quarter century ago. Bradley lived out of his car, but that was repossessed while he slept in a hotel room that UNITE HERE 11 fundraised for him, leaving him homeless and bereft of all his worldly possessions.

With UNITE HERE 11’s help, Bradley’s secured a job at the downtown LA Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites, a hotel that has bargained with the workers. Bradley is using his newfound secure position to campaign among other Instawork workers to convince them not to cross picket lines. In these group chats, Jacobin saw workers worrying “that joining the strike would jeopardize their standing on the app.”

Today (July 30) at 1530h, I’m appearing on a panel at Midsummer Scream in Long Beach, CA, to discuss the wonderful, award-winning “Ghost Post” Haunted Mansion project I worked on for Disney Imagineering.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/30/computer-says-scab/#instawork

[Image ID: An old photo of strikers before a struck factory, with tear-gas plumes rising above them. The image has been modified to add a Marriott sign to the factory, and the menacing red eye of HAL9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' to the sky over the factory. The workers have been colorized to a yellow-green shade and the factory has been colorized to a sepia tone.]

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

#pluralistic #hot strike summer #unions #UNITE HERE #labor #computer says no #tuyul apps #jacobin #gig economy #nlrb #marriott #Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort & Spa #instawork #scabs #Aimbridge Hospitality Group #University of California #nlrb section 7 #unfair labor practice #ulp #UNITE HERE Local 11 #mansion tax #race #algorithmic wage discrimination #Veena Dubal #disciplinary technology #chickenized reverse-centaurs #reverse-centaurs #como is infosec #Jennifer Abruzzo

[yusuke-of-valla]

UPDATE 9/26/2023

Strike authorization has passed by 98.32% and SAG leadership are returning to negotiate with game companies to secure a fair deal for voice actors and mocap actors

This DOES NOT MEAN that a strike is happening, it simply means that members are willing to go on strike and leadership can use this as leverage when negotiating. The deadline to come to a deal is is 9/28. If a deal is not reached THEN will there be a strike.

Please remember that the best outcome is that there is no strike and companies simply give workers a fair deal. A strike is a last resort.

While this does not directly affect developers in the game industry, that does not mean it's not important. Voice actors have been treated like shit in the game industry and are under threat by AI. The more people that are unionized, the easy it is for others to unionize. Do not dismiss it just because it is not developers.

The companies that would be affected by a hypothetical strike are:

Activision Productions Inc.,

Blindlight LLC,

Disney Character Voices Inc.,

Electronic Arts Productions Inc.,

Epic Games, Inc.,

Formosa Interactive LLC,

Insomniac Games Inc.,

Take 2 Productions Inc.,

VoiceWorks Productions Inc., and

WB Games Inc.

At the moment, no boycott has been called so there is nothing for consumers or anyone not involved with SAG-AFTRA to do, other than to be supportive on social media and report unauthorized AI recreation of voice actors work. Otherwise sit tight.

I'd really appreciate it if people who reblogged the last post also reblog the update

#sag aftra #sag aftra strike #sag aftra strong #Destiel meme #hot strike summer #hot labor summer #voice actors #voice acting #mocap #motion capture #industry bullshit #gaming industry #video games

[solar-sunnyside-up]

#General strikes 2028 #Hot strike summer #solarpunk #hopepunk #If someone knows this artist in here I'll tag them but I couldn't help but share

[itsbansheebitch]

"Imagine if every teacher in America went on strike at the same time? Society would crumble in like, an hour. Their demands would be met immediately. It's the perfect crime! :D" - Drew Gooden

#strike #writers strike #actors strike #wga strike #hot strike summer #hot labor summer #politics #us politics #quote #inspiring quotes #inspiring words #inspirational quotes #inspiration #inspiration quotes #inspiration words #motivation #teachers #education #classroom #school #campus #university #college #lgbt #lgbtq+ #lgbtqia #lgbtq #youtube #drew gooden #kurtis conner

[cleolinda]

#broadway #strikes #hot strike summer #iatse #iatse strike

[dynared]

Hot Strike Summer rolls on as the WGA rejects the latest APTMP offer as insufficient.

This is particularly notable with Labor Day approaching, which in addition to being a bad look for the studios to force their employees to picket during, has also been cited as a crisis point in timing. Not only is that the last day most studios believe they can start to write fall programming and have any shot at salvaging the fall network television season (AKA look forward to a lot of unscripted programming, pro wrestling, and sports), but it's also the day according to many trade paper articles that studios and streamers will feel like they have the green light to cancel a lot of bubble programming that may have survived to Season 2 thanks to studio politics and outside optics but that aren't financially desirable.

More cynical analysts have alleged this may have been the goal for streamers from the start, to have the green light to cancel projects with bloated budgets and low returns, but they didn't want to take the heat on canceling a show from a big-time producer or go full in on canceling female-led or LBGTQ+ led programming.

The next two weeks will be very interesting for all involved.

#wga strike #wga #writer's strike #writer's guild of america #amptp #sag aftra #sag afra strike #hot strike summer

[thefirsthogokage]

(Link to Tweet)

[Image ID: A tweet from Jenny Klein that reads:

Now 100 days into the strike, here is a roundup of places you can donate to help entertainment worker relief (all workers not just WGA) - [Click this sentence to go to the Google document] #WGAstrong #unionstrong

/End ID]

In case you can't open the link:

We are more than 75 days into the WGA strike, and now SAG-AFTRA has joined us too. Unite Here 11 hotel workers have been out all month. Teamsters and IATSE have been out of work. Here's some funds you can donate to to support everyone. I will update this often as more funds pop up!

WORKER SUPPORT

THE UNION SOLIDARITY COALITION FUND

TUSC is raising money for direct aid to IATSE and Teamsters crew -- they are notably covering people’s health insurance premiums while they’re out of work. Donate here. [501c3 - tax deductible]

ENTERTAINMENT COMMUNITY FUND

Most importantly, EntertainmentCommunityFund.org gives financial aid to entertainment workers all over the industry, both WGA and non-WGA. It's a big source of assistance for IATSE people especially. [501c3 - tax deductible]

SAG-AFTRA FOUNDATION

The SAG-AFTRA Foundation provides financial assistance to members of their union in need. https://members.sagfoundation.org/donate [501c3 - tax deductible]

HUMANITAS GROCERIES

Humanitas Groceries For Writers. This helps staff writers and other early career WGA members with $100 grocery gift cards. Donate here (and select Groceries For Writers from the dropdown): https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=AVJ6TL2YYPX2A

INEVITABLE FOUNDATION

Inevitable Foundation has a financial aid fund for WGA writers with disabilities. [501c3 - tax deductible] You can donate to support here: https://www.inevitable.foundation/emergency-relief-fund-donate?form=webdonate

GREEN ENVELOPE GROCERY AID

WGA captain Joelle Garfinkel helps run a grocery aid fund for entertainment workers. You can learn more about it here: https://twitter.com/msjoellegarf/status/1678522919780069377 Donate by sending money on venmo to @ Joelle-Garfinkel and if you need aid you can apply by emailing [email protected]

FOOD BANK GROCERIES FOR ACTORS/WRITERS

World Harvest Food Bank in Mid City LA is giving away free groceries to writers and actors on strike. You can donate to support those efforts here: https://www.worldharvestla.org/donate-now [501c3 - tax deductible]

UNITE HERE 11 MUTUAL AID STRIKE FUND

Unite Here 11 hotel workers, who staff many of the hotels used by the major studios for production, are on strike. If you would like to donate to their strike fund, you can do so here: https://www.unitehere11.org/donate-to-the-unite-here-local-11-strike-mutual-aid-fund/

MOTION PICTURE TELEVISION FUND

MPTF (formerly known as the Actors Fund) provides a variety of services including grants for people on strike. You can donate to MPTF here: https://mptf.com/donate/ [501c3 - tax deductible]

HOLLYWOOD SUPPORT STAFF RELIEF FUND

This is an MPTF fund specifically for Hollywood assistants impacted by the strike. https://secure2.convio.net/afa/site/Donation2;jsessionid=00000000.app20023a?8217.donation=form1&8217_donation=form1&NONCE_TOKEN=12A38B8E80F6E4250888E4E44BE1190D&df_id=8217&idb=182923308&mfc_pref=T [501c3 - tax deductible]

PICKET LINE SUPPORT

PIZZA FUND - ALL LA LOTS

Comedy writer Jess Morse maintains a pizza fund that delivers to all of the Valley pickets. You can send money to @ Jess-Morse on Venmo or paypal.me/pizzastrikefund on Paypal ($10.97 buys one pizza)

FOX LOT FOOD FUND (LA)

I run a food fund to help feed our picket line at Fox, where I am an assistant coordinator. My Venmo is @ OlgaLexell and we love to use this money on catering from local businesses so we can support them while their business is down too.

SONY LOT FOOD FUND (LA)

The folks coordinating the Sony lot started a food fund via GiveButter. https://givebutter.com/sonypicketlines

NETFLIX LOT FOOD FUND (LA)

Lot coordinator Danny Tolli runs a Venmo fund for food and beverages at Netflix. You can Venmo him @ dctolli to contribute.

DISNEY LOT FUND (LA)

Lot coordinator Carlos Cisco started a Venmo fund for supplies like water at Disney, which has extremely high temperatures in the summer. Venmo him at @ Carlos-Cisco to contribute.

COMMUNITY SOLIDARITY PROJECT (LA)

CSP has been delivering hot meals like breakfast burritos to all of the LA lots. Donate here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-entertainment-workers-on-the-strike-line

TARGET REGISTRY - ALL LA LOTS

Official Target registry run by the WGA West Lot Coordinators. This is to get supplies for our check-in stations, ranging from snacks to first aid to garbage bags and beyond. https://www.target.com/gift-registry/gift-giver?registryId=079d5420-f35e-11ed-989e-f9022739cfe2&type=CUSTOM

NYC STRIKE SUPPLIES

NY Strike captain Steph Deluca offered to receive incoming funds to buy picket line supplies, which is something the WGAe needs help with. They are fundraising via her venmo @steph_deluca

FEEDING THE NYC STRIKERS

A group sending food and water to NYC strikers has set up a Cashapp and Paypal fund. You can send the money at $NYCStrikeFund via Cashapp or [email protected] via Paypal.

#wga strike #wga strong #sag aftra strike #sag aftra strong #local 11 #solidarity summer #hot strike summer #hot labor summer #lend a hand #strike support

[rosalie-starfall]

Ariana Debose, Michelle Hurd, Fran Drescher, and Melissa Gilbert SAG-AFTRA Strike August 3rd 2023.

#ariana debose #michelle hurd #fran drescher #melissa gilbert #sag-aftra #sag #aftra #THIS IS THE PHOTO IVE BEEN WAITING FOR! #Fran and Michelle Together fighting the good fight! #its more than my little lesbian heart can handle #i support sag aftra #hot labor summer #hot strike summer #power to the people #power to preformers

[dovesndecay]

This is it this is the best thing

#original post #mpgis #hot strike summer

[iww-gnv]

Labor unions successfully organized more than 58,000 workers through the National Labor Relations Board’s election process in the first six months of 2023, a massive influx of workers on a scale that we’ve rarely seen before—but that we’re likely to see again. The 662 NLRB representation elections won by unions in the year’s first half covered a total of 58,543 workers, according to Bloomberg Law’s just-released NLRB Election Statistics report. That’s the second-highest first-half organizing total in this century. By itself, this statistic isn’t the surest measurement of labor strength; all it takes is one freakishly large election result to make a six-month period appear a lot more impressive than it really was. (This is exactly what happened in May 2013: A bargaining unit of nearly 45,000 already-unionized workers switched representation from one union to another through the NLRB election process, raising the midyear total to 67,687.) No such anomaly is present in 2023. The sheer number of union wins so far this year, surpassing even last year’s Starbucks-studded total, makes it plain that this current wave of organized workers is no fluke.

[Read the rest]

#news #us news #hot labor summer #hot strike summer #labor unions #labor organizing #union strong #support unions #solidarity forever

[amyriadfthings]

#nuff said #wga strike #hot strike summer #amptp #from my twitter timeline