I've been writing about Capistrano Unified School District and the struggles with our current Board of Trustees. The teachers went on strike today even as talks began regarding the contract imposed by the Board of trustees.
The details are important because they seem to be getting lost in translation between the media, the administration, the union and the parents. The issue is that Teachers are willing to take pay cuts, they just don't want them to be permanent. There are other issues as well, which I've written about but the real issue is the board, who funded their race and the ultimate goal of a variety of organizations to privatize our public education system.
Rumors ran rampant yesterday that state employees, pushed too far by yet another salary cut (totaling 20% over the course of the year), would potentially strike.
Doug Crooks, Director of Communications with the Service Employees International Union's local 1000, which represents more than 95,000 state employees, declined to confirm the rumor but said any decision would be made by the employees through an authorization vote.
"In the first place, that decision hasn't been made yet," said Crooks about the plan to strike. "That decision hasn't been made yet. We are definitely going to strongly oppose and do everything we can to prevent the governor from imposing a fourth furlough day. But check back with me Monday."
"The bottom line is we negotiated with this governor in good faith and we agreed on a contract that would save $340 million dollars immediately, and if applied to all state employees it would save the state a billion dollars. That's billion with a 'B.' And for the governor to undermine that contract now is beyond irresponsible. He's made the state employee a pawn" in the state budget negotiations.
"Well actually, it's a five percent cut on top of those three furlough days," explained Alicia Trost, a spokesperson for Senate leader Darrell Steinberg. "It's simply a scare tactic by the governor, yet another, and we feel the state workforce has already paid their fair share. What's worse is that it would have a horrible effect on the economy if state workers were to lose up to 20 percent of their buying power."
By the way, Mr. Stogie just lost a furlough case, with a judge tentatively ruling that he cannot furlough the legal staff of the State Compensation Insurance Fund, which has emboldened the larger pool of workers in SEIU. But more to the point, in the world of Arnold Antionette and the Yacht Party, workers making a median income getting 20% salary cuts while the largest corporations doing business in the state get a massive corporate tax break is considered "everyone paying their fair share."
Speaking of which, Lenny Goldberg offers the text of an initiative to repeal the negotiated-in-secret corporate tax cuts and save the state $2.5 billion dollars a year. Opponents typically respond with race-to-the-bottom rhetoric about businesses leaving the state, which isn't true, by the way.
UPDATE: Here's a study out TODAY from the PPIC confirming that the whole "the rich are leaving California" line is a flat-out lie.
Finally, a federal appeals court ruled that California cannot cut Medi-Cal reimbursements, in an opinion written by a George W. Bush appointee. The familiar pattern of breaking the law to cut the budget often runs up against judicial review, and so the criminals in Sacramento - considering what they're attempting, I don't consider that hyperbole - will have to try something else to achieve their long-sought destruction of the social safety net.
A while back I put up a very brief post about a strike at the University of California system for more than 20,000 UC patient care and service workers that AFSCME represents. That strike has been cancelled as both parties seek to move back to the bargaining table.
We'll try to keep this story updated. Full letter over the flip.
Over the last few weeks I have been writing about the plight of security guards working for a company called Inter-Con, a contractor at Kaiser Permanente Hospitals in California. One post I wrote on this was titled, Why Don't We Hear About Labor Issues Anymore? and I want to get to that subject some more here. But first, I want to go over what was covered.
This week I wrote about the Kaiser Permanente / Inter-Con Security Security Guard strike.
The post Security Guards Striking for the Right to Have Our Laws Enforced discussed why the guards are striking. They are employees of Inter-Con Security, Inc., which contracts services to Kaiser Permanente facilities in California. This company (not Kaiser) is trying to stop the guards from forming a union and the guards are striking to ask that laws allowing union organizing be enforced.
There was some question whether or not this would actually happen, but I'm proud of the ILWU for putting principles first and pulling this off.
Thousands of dockworkers at all 29 West Coast ports, including Los Angeles and Long Beach, took the day off work today in what their union called a protest of the war in Iraq, effectively shutting down operations at the busy complexes.
The action came two months before the contract expires between the dockworkers, represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, and the Pacific Maritime Assn., which represents port operators and large shippers, many of them foreign-owned.
"We are supporting the troops and telling politicians in Washington that it's time to end the war in Iraq," said union President Bob McEllrath.
This is the first major general strike against the war I can think of in my personal memory. Two years ago most truckers stayed away on May Day to protest immigration policy and attend rallies in LA. But this is the entire west coast of the US and Canada.
The longshoremen understand what our politicians must: this war is immoral, unnecessary, catastrophic, and damaging to our national character. It needs to end.
(This is also why a strong labor movement needs to be sustained. Not only does it provide an engine to upward mobility for the working class, it takes the role of our national conscience.)
UPDATE: Here's an example of why the ILWU is out in the streets today.
Sgt. 1st Class David L. McDowell, 30, of Ramona, California died Tuesday in Afghanistan of "wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked using small arms fires." The San Diego Tribune reports, "He had been deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq seven times and was a recipient of two Bronze stars and a Purple Heart."
Seven tours of duty. No end in sight. What a tragedy.
• According to Dan Walters, all his serious economist friends are telling him there's no recession yet, theoreticaly speaking. He might want to read his own paper, about how the Employment Development Department can't keep up with the demand for unemployment benefits and everyone calling in is getting a busy signal. Tip to those who apparently aren't feeling a recession: use the EDD website.
• In a reversal to the Bush Administration, a judge has ruled that George Bush cannot exempt the Navy from environmental laws regarding the use of sonar within 12 miles of the California coast. Not that Bush followed the ruling of the judiciary the first time, but...
• There are still high hopes for an end to the WGA strike, and meetings in Los Angeles and New York have been scheduled for the weekend (ostensibly to present the contract), but caution lies ahead, as more foreign imports and reality television are likely to wind up on schedules, and less pilots are likely to be shot. Of course, this was my point all along, and why I underscored the need to grow the union for the benefit of everyone involved and give everything on television the opportunity to unionize. But jurisdiction for reality and animation was dropped in the most recent round of talks, and there will be consequences to that.
• Our friends at the SEIU are going to start a $75 million dollar, year-long, national campaign in support of universal health care. I have to think that this is a positive by-product of the coalition built in California around the ultimately unsuccessful effort on health care reform. If so, then there was nothing unsuccessful about it. It's very exciting to see a full media and ground effort to draw the policy distinctions on health care between the parties, and to advocate for a system that makes sense for working families.
Use this as a repository for everything but the election.
The Writers Guild of America has retained veteran Democratic political consultants Bill Carrick and Kam Kuwata to provide assistance on the strategic and PR fronts of the 8-week-old strike.
"We both have friends in the WGA," Kuwata told Daily Variety. "And we have landed a lot of times on the sides that are pro-labor."
The duo came aboard earlier this month at the guild's behest in the wake of the Dec. 7 collapse of negotiations between the WGA and the AMPTP, which insisted that the guild remove half a dozen proposals from the table as a condition of continuing to bargain. The WGA refused, and no new talks have been scheduled, while the Directors Guild of America is widely expected to set a start date for negotiations on its contract within the next week.
Kuwata said he and Carrick will work for the WGA for as long as needed.
Carrick ran the Angelides campaign and Kuwata has worked a lot with DiFi in the past. But at least that they understand that Democrats stand with workers, unlike Chris Lehane. I'd rather reject that corporate money and be on the side of those who just want their fair share.
Things are moving on a variety of fronts in the WGA strike. While the AMPTP stalls and makes baseless charges, the Guild is trying some novel approaches. Not only have they filed an unfair labor practices charge against the AMPTP for walking away from a good-faith negotiation, they are challenging the very idea of bargaining with a cartel like the AMPTP itself.
Confronted with a logjam in its contract talks with the studios, the Writers Guild of America is trying a new tack: Divide and conquer.
Last post on this today I promise. This is new information and California specific. Courtesy of Jane Hamsher of Fire Dog Lake I have this quote from Anastasia Ordonez at the California Labor Federation. Jane called them to inquire about the status of Chris Lehane's contract with the Fed on health care and passed it off to me, given the California angle.
He's been a close labor ally for many years, so we're looking into this but I'm not going to comment on what our relationship will be in the future.
Ordonez stated that their contract with Chris Lehane was terminated around Thanksgiving, because they were not sure what they were going to do with regards to health care. That makes sense, since the health care negotiations were ongoing, rather than completely falling apart and there was not a huge need to have a guy like Lehane around.
The California Labor Federation maintains a blacklist of contractors for situations like this one, where someone goes to work directly against the labor movement. They can only add someone to that blacklist if a Local requests it. WGA is not a member, therefore they cannot make that request.
SEIU has been much closer to the WGA than the members of the Labor Fed and AFL-CIO, thus it is not that surprising to see them moving more slowly than Change to Win and SEIU.
The California Labor Federation is the state AFL-CIO, with more than 1,200 affiliated local unions, representing 2.1 million union members in diverse communities and sectors of the state's economy. Manufacturing, service, retail, construction, public sector and private industry unions join together in the Federation to protect and advance the rights and interests of all California workers.
Having the Fed put Lehane on the blacklist would obviously be a pretty big deal. If they do, I will be sure to blog it up.
Change to Win had a general consulting contract with Chris Lehane. That contract was terminated upon discovery of his role supporting the studios in the writers guild strike. As you know, Change to Win and its affiliates stand solidly behind the writers in their struggle for fairness, so we did not think twice about this decision.
The studios hired Fabiani & Lehane, at a crisis fee of around $100,000 a month, to battle the WGA members driven PR machine. They did so early in the week, which was another telling sign that they had no intention of making a deal. You don't need "crisis PR" when you are doing the right thing. You hire "crisis PR" when you are going to walk out of talks and blame the other side for ruining Christmas. So, Lehane and Fabiani, longtime Democratic PR guys, have decided to switch sides and do some union busting. I guess they have come a long way since 2002.
No idea yet if they have lost more than they gained by signing this contract with AMPTP.
SEIU Local 99 in Los Angeles -- education workers who include teacher's aids, cafeteria workers and crossing guards -- have fired former Clinton spokesman Chris Lehane from a consulting contract in support of the WGA .
"By the end of the week, I believe Chris Lehane will have no union clients because of his work for the AMPTP," says SEIU President Andy Stern, who confirms that all Change to Win Unions are severing ties with Lehane. "His days are numbered in the labor movement."
Chris Lehane by opting to go to work for the studios made a choice between that contract and those from labor. SEIU has been working to support the writers, so it comes as no surprise that they are the first to fire him. The question now is how quickly the other unions follow suit. As noted here back in October, the California Labor Federation hired Lehane to work on health care reform, outside of the IOHC coalition. I do not know what other unions he is under contract with, though we should hopefully find out soon.
While Stern is not my favorite right now, given his meddling in health care and a power struggle at the SEIU State Council that Brian has documented, this is a very strong and useful statement by him.
We learned yesterday that Chris Lehane used to do damage control for the corporation trying to limit PR fallout from massive health and safety violations while building the eastern span of the Bay Bridge in San Francisco. He's currently plying his trade as a paid shill for studios and networks who have the simple goal of busting the Hollywood labor movement.
The AP calls the new contract proposal from the studios to the WGA a sweetened offer. The United Hollywood blog says otherwise.
That big, amazing proposal that the companies hinted to Nikki Finke was coming? Well, it came.
Turns out their exciting, groundbreaking proposal is... a residual rollback. And not just any rollback, one of the biggest in the history of the Guild. Then, stunningly, the companies have the balls to say their plan gives us more compensation. Well, I'm sorry, but If you take away a dollar and give me a nickel, the nickel ain't a raise. Somewhere, Nick Counter's first-grade math teacher is embarrassed [...]
When an hourlong episode of television is streamed on the Internet, writers would get a flat $250 payment for one year of reuse. That's $250 as opposed to, for example, $20,000 per episode when it's reused on network television. They proposed nothing new on downloads, it's still the DVD formula for those (ie. two-thirds of a penny for an iTunes download). For theatrical movies, they're offering exactly $0.00 on streaming. Oh, and they want to be able to define any content they like as "promotional" -- for which they would pay zero dollars. Even if they stream an entire film or tv episode, and even if they sell ads on it, they can call that promotional and pay us nothing.
Looks to me like the AMPTP responded to the positive public opinion generated by the writers by trying to get public opinion on their side over their "generous offer," and subsequently call the writers "whiners" or something when they refuse to accept it. With the information out now, that's not likely to happen.
Though there's been a news blackout from the bargaining table, many in the entertainment community are cheered by Nikki Finke's report that a deal is imminent in the 4 week-old writer's strike. Her source makes sense, saying that the agents have brokered this; they have a stake in both writer profits and studio profits, not to mention getting production back in gear again.
However, in the wake of this impending deal we should not forget about the forgotten writer's strike of 2006. I've been saying from the beginning that the strategy of the WGA, to get as much as they can for current members instead of growing the membership, is fatally flawed, and will result in a constriction of revenue for writers as less and less spots on the TV schedule will require them. Daniel Blau came forward last week with the inside story:
(Pretty awesome to see Edwards walking the line in support of the writers. - promoted by David Dayen)
(Crossposted from DailyKos)
I am going to apologize ahead of time because this diary is going to be a bit, well a lot, fan-girly. If you want substance, this isn't it. Keep moving.
I've never met Edwards in person before. I've supported him since 2004 and have missed a few opportunities to see him in person. Yesterday I was lucky, very lucky. I went to the picket line for the WGA where Edwards came to lend his support.
Other labor leaders are coalescing around the writer's strike because they know that a hig-profile action like this will have positive benefits for them, and might actually start a conversation about union representation in America. If the adage of "If it's not on TV, it didn't happen" holds true, then "If it's stopping TV, it's REALLY happening" holds even truer. Joss Whedon explains:
"The trappings of a union protest…" You see how that works? Since we aren't real workers, this isn't a real union issue. (We're just a guild!) [...] this IS a union issue, one that will affect not just artists but every member of a community that could find itself at the mercy of a machine that absolutely and unhesitatingly would dismantle every union, remove every benefit, turn every worker into a cowed wage-slave in the singular pursuit of profit. (There is a machine. Its program is 'profit'. This is not a myth.) This is about a fair wage for our work. No different than any other union. The teamsters have recognized the importance of this strike, for which I'm deeply grateful. Hopefully the Times will too.
"I support the Writers Guild's pursuit of a fair contract that pays them for their work in all mediums. I hope the producers and writers will return to the bargaining table to work out an equitable contract that keeps our entertainment industry strong and recognizes the contributions writers make to the success of the industry."
No talks have been scheduled, as the studios appear to be preferring a "bleed them out" strategy, despite the WGA already conceding on expanding DVD residuals. While I still feel that jurisdiction and expanding membership should be a strong part of any final deal, clearly the writers deserve a fair share of the profits they are instrumental in creating.
The Writers Guild of America took to the streets today, beginning what promises to be a long strike in one of the largest industries in California. I couldn't be more in support of the people who are the lifeblood of Hollywood, the creative personnel that are the engine of the last vibrant manufacturing industry in America. Unfortunately, I'm getting the sense that their leadership is falling back on an old union strategy of securing benefits for their existing membership rather than allowing their membership to grow, and this will have disastrous consequences for the future of the labor movement.
I like to say that I work in the last big manufacturing industry left in America - entertainment production. That manufacturing may be grinding to a halt soon.
With the clock running out on the contract between Hollywood's writers and producers Wednesday, negotiators made little progress toward a new deal, and both sides prepared for a strike that could begin as early as Friday.
Representatives of the two unions - the Writers Guild of America East and the Writers Guild of America West - met with bargainers for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers Wednesday morning after a federal mediator helped jump-start the stalled talks.
But the two sides broke off talks Wednesday night, allowing the contract to expire at midnight. Writers had presented freshly drawn proposals that left their principal demands intact, according to a guild leader, and producers made no immediate move to accommodate them.
There really has been no progress throughout the talks. Writers want a greater share of DVD residuals (they didn't see that revenue stream coming during the last contract), a deal on new media payments like digital downloads, and an expansion of collective bargaining to cover reality and nonfiction shows.
This could have a ripple effect throughout the industry, with productions shutting down. They've front-loaded a lot of their programming and endeavored to shoot as much as possible in anticipation of the strike. It's pretty clear that's what's going to happen. Next year, the Director's Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild have contracts that end in June, which would really cripple the industry. It appears that the studios would rather placate them and play hardball with the writers, as contract talks with directors are already ongoing.
There is unfortunately no cross-union partnership in Hollywood, in fact there's quite a bit of animosity between some of them. We are probably looking at a protracted walkout, without the other unions coming to their aid. And in a city where one out of every three employees in the industry are out of work on any given day, it's hard to incentivize mass action and non-union solidarity. You can be easily replaced.
