Cinematographers Guild publicists to skip awards show, support COVID-19 Hardship Fund
Publicists with the International Cinematographers Guild (IATSE 600, a MWC affiliate) have canceled their annual awards luncheon to instead support their Local 600 Hardship Fund amid the pandemic. "As our members continue to struggle with health and economic uncertainty, it was an overwhelming choice to make the ICG Hardship Fund our 2021 community goal in lieu of this year’s awards and help assuage the painful realities of our friends and colleagues who have lost their jobs," ICG Publicist Awards chair Tim Menke and co-chair Sheryl Main said in a statement. Read more here.
HB 486 offers common-sense solutions for workers. It’s not surprising UMD opposes it.
by Malcolm Ferguson, from The Diamondback
Once again, the University of Maryland and a host of other University System of Maryland schools are doing the absolute most to avoid giving their workers the bare minimum. Last week, state legislators and employees from various USM institutions spent two days debating House Bill 486. The bill calls for the USM to implement a single, universal USM workers’ contract rather than having to negotiate with each state institution individually. Currently, each institution’s workers have a different contract with the USM, leading to disparities in pay and working conditions across campuses. The bill would allow AFSCME — the union that represents this and other USM institutions’ workers — to finally gain a seat at the table to negotiate clearly and directly with USM. This would significantly change how much say workers have in determining the conditions they work in. As Maryland state senator Benjamin Kramer (D-Montgomery) stated at the hearing, “There is no excuse, there is no reason, there is no logic, there is no rationale” that can justify any valid opposition to this bill...Read more here
Emma is a member of MWC affiliate IFPTE 70; she works as a Food & Water Watch digital campaigner.
Today's Labor History
This week’s Labor History Today podcast: The Valentine’s Day Strike of 1921. Last week’s show: Remembering John Sweeney and Anne Feeney
One of the first American labor newspapers, The Man, is published in New York City. It cost one cent and, according to The History of American Journalism, “died an early death.” Another labor paper, N.Y. Daily Sentinel, had been launched four years earlier - 1834
Faced with 84-hour workweeks, 24-hour shifts and pay of 29 cents an hour, fire fighters form The International Association of Fire Fighters. Some individual locals had affiliated with the AFL beginning in 1903 - 1918
- David Prosten
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