All posts tagged: Labor

SAG-AFTRA Ratifies 4-Year Deal With Studios

SAG-AFTRA Ratifies 4-Year Deal With Studios

Published by Daniella Wilson

Members of SAG-AFTRA have ratified the four-year deal with studios and streamers that union negotiators reached in early May. 91.42 percent of voters of voted to approve the contract, while 8.58 percent were opposed. 19.25 percent of eligible members turned out in the vote. SAG-AFTRA President Sean Astin said in a statement, “I’m proud of our SAG-AFTRA membership and the strength they continue to show when we move together with a shared purpose. This agreement builds on the foundation members fought to establish and carries that work into the next chapter of our industry. It delivers meaningful gains in compensation, strengthens protections around artificial intelligence and digital identity, reinforces the long-term security of members’ benefit plans and recognizes the realities of how performers work today.” “Our members have always understood that protecting the future of this profession means preparing for change before it arrives. This agreement reflects that commitment and the collective power of this union,” Astin concluded. The vote concludes a relatively uneventful negotiations period for the union, at least compared with its 2023 talks, …

CBS News Engaging in “Editorial Interference,” Says Union

CBS News Engaging in “Editorial Interference,” Says Union

Published by Daniella Wilson

The president of the Writers Guild of America East is decrying the management of CBS News under new owner Paramount Skydance, claiming “near-constant levels of editorial interference” at the storied organization. Tom Fontana, the showrunner and writer leading the union, wrote members on Thursday after CBS News fired former 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley following a clash with leadership in a tense meeting earlier this week. “Like many of you, I have been alarmed by recent developments at CBS News,” he wrote, citing recent layoffs and the closing of CBS News Radio in late May. “In addition, based on a string of public reporting and confidential reports from WGAE members, it is clear that CBS brass is engaged in a near-constant level of editorial interference that would have previously been unthinkable,” Fontana said. Of Pelley, an icon of the newsmagazine and a 37-year veteran of the network, the union said, “CBS management is apparently too thin-skinned to handle the honest scrutiny of their own journalists.” Pelley was fired by CBS management after he laid into …

Brazil Rejects Proposed US Tariffs Related to Forced Labor

Brazil Rejects Proposed US Tariffs Related to Forced Labor

Published by Sam Flores

SAO PAULO, ⁠June ⁠3 (Reuters) – The ⁠Brazilian government expressed “deep disagreements” ​with the United States’ ‌proposal of new ‌tariffs ⁠linked ⁠to forced labor in a statement on ​Wednesday, saying the move distorts the ​issue of protecting working conditions ⁠to ⁠justify unilateral, ⁠protectionist measures. The ​proposal of tariffs of up ​to ⁠12.5% on imports from 60 economies, including Brazil, ⁠came after the Trump administration determined they ⁠had failed to curb trade in goods made with forced labor, an assertion that was rejected by U.S. trading ⁠partners. (Reporting by Andre Romani in Sao Paulo and Lisandra Paraguassu in ​Brasilia; Editing by ​Kylie Madry) Copyright 2026 Thomson Reuters. Source link

‘We’re Just Getting the Crumbs Here’: Striking Contractors Protest Layoffs at Meta’s European Headquarters

‘We’re Just Getting the Crumbs Here’: Striking Contractors Protest Layoffs at Meta’s European Headquarters

Published by skeptic

“We trained the bots. We did the grind. Now we’re being left behind,” chanted a horde of contract workers who gathered outside Meta’s offices in Dublin, Ireland, on Friday afternoon. Waving flags, brandishing signs, and armed with whistles and vuvuzelas, they were out to protest a round of planned layoffs. The workers are employed by Dublin-based company Covalen, which handles content moderation and data labeling services that help Meta to fine-tune its AI products. In April, Covalen told 700 employees that their jobs were at risk, citing “reduced demand,” WIRED reported. A large swath of the affected workers won’t receive any severance because they’ve been employed for less than two years. The rest are being offered the minimum payout required under local labor laws—two weeks’ pay for every year of employment—according to the Communications Workers’ Union (CWU), whose members include Covalen employees. “We’re just getting the crumbs here,” Aadel Obaid, a team manager at Covalen who is part of the planned layoffs, tells WIRED. “Give us a little bit of the pie.” Photograph: Joel Khalili …

Condé Nast and Union Reach Settlement Over “Fired Four”

Condé Nast and Union Reach Settlement Over “Fired Four”

Published by Daniella Wilson

It was a march on the boss, a typical union tactic used to pressure management, this time with unusual consequences. On Nov. 5, 2025, a group of NewsGuild of New York union members confronted the chief people officer of publishing giant Condé Nast outside his offices in One World Trade Center about recent layoffs and changes to Teen Vogue. A tense exchange ensued, with the executive trying to leave the conversation as union members pressed him to engage — at least some of it captured on video and later leaked to the media. The next day, four union members — Bon Appétit’s Alma Avalle, Condé Nast Entertainment’s Ben Dewey, Wired’s Jake Lahut and The New Yorker’s Jasper Lo — were fired and five more union members were suspended for conduct that “violated company policies” and “behavior that crosses the line into targeted harassment and disruption of business operations” according to the company. The union, in turn, deemed the firings illegal and began advocating on behalf of the terminated staffers, calling them “the Fired Four.” Now, …

Department of Labor Tells Employees to Report Anyone Prioritizing DEI

Department of Labor Tells Employees to Report Anyone Prioritizing DEI

Published by skeptic

Late last week, employees at the Department of Labor received a long email strongly urging them to file whistleblower complaints and report instances of “diversity, equity, and inclusion”-related discrimination or retaliation. In short, employees were told to alert the government of DEI compliance in any way. The email, sent on Friday and viewed by WIRED, felt like it was a “reminder to narc on your coworkers for doing DEI,” says a DOL employee who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation. The notice was titled “Reporting DEI-Related Discrimination, Retaliation, and Related Whistleblower Disclosures” and came from a “DOL Guidance and Information” email account. It was not signed by any particular member of DOL leadership. “DEI-related discrimination occurs when any employment action (hiring, promotion, training access, mentoring, assignments, awards, etc.) is motivated in whole or in part by an employee’s or applicant’s race, color, sex, national origin, religion, or other protected characteristics,” states the email. Further details about what exactly constitutes “DEI-related discrimination” included “restricting networking events or professional development to specific racial, sex, or ethnic groups”; …

The French far right’s weak spot: Economic incoherence – POLITICO

The French far right’s weak spot: Economic incoherence – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

While Bardella has enjoyed success courting the titans of industry — especially those executives belonging to CAC40, the index of France’s largest listed companies — Le Pen’s more recent attempts at engagement with business have been rockier. Politicians from rival parties are wasting no time in seeking to score points from the ideological schism at the heart of the nationalist, anti-immigration National Rally. “There’s the new generation National Rally that’s courting CAC40 executives, companies and business leaders … and the old guard that is pro-spending, pro-nanny state,” Édouard Philippe, the conservative main challenger to the far right, said this month. “You can count on me to condemn their posturing and U-turns.” Éric Zemmour, leader of the far-right Reconquest party, accused Bardella of going to “great lengths” to make it look as if the National Rally were right-wing while the party hierarchy — most notably Le Pen — had leftist economic instincts and wanted to hike taxes. Noting the divisions between Bardella and Le Pen, members of the far-left France Unbowed party said their presidential candidate …

Hollywood Teamsters Reach Tentative Deal With Commercials Producers

Hollywood Teamsters Reach Tentative Deal With Commercials Producers

Published by Daniella Wilson

The Hollywood Teamsters have reached a tentative labor agreement with commercials producers ahead of schedule in an attempt to avoid any disruption to work amid L.A.’s ongoing production crisis. The union and the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) shook hands on provisional three-year contracts for two covered groups before midnight on Thursday, the union announced. The deal covers around 1,500 Teamsters members, including drivers, animal trainers and wranglers, chef assistants and location scouts and managers. Details are being kept under wraps until a June 2 member meeting ahead of a ratification vote. Bargaining committees for both contracts have unanimously recommended the deal for ratification. The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to the AICP for comment. Negotiations began Tuesday on the contracts, whose current iterations are set to expire on June 30. The union sought to negotiate ahead of schedule because one of its bargaining priorities, informed by members, was to “avoid disruption in current commercial production work.” Teamsters Local 399 president and chief negotiator Joshua Staheli led the talks on behalf of Local 399. …

The winners and losers from the UK’s trade deal with the Gulf – POLITICO

The winners and losers from the UK’s trade deal with the Gulf – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

Meanwhile, the UAE opted out of environmental commitments in the FTA altogether, leaving those discussions to separate bilateral talks. Human and labor rights campaigners Campaigners have long raised concerns about the Gulf states’ human rights record, with organizations including the Trade Justice Movement, Amnesty International UK, Human Rights Watch urging the prime minister in a joint letter last year to incorporate “strong human rights conditions” before the deal is signed.  Reacting to the details of the deal released on Wednesday, the Trade Justice Movement said it  “looks to be silent” on human and labor rights “in return for minimal economic benefit.”  “By failing to negotiate any enforceable human rights protections within the deal, the U.K. has taken a moral step backwards and undermined the government’s own commitments on democracy, women’s rights and workers’ rights,” said Trade Justice Movement Director Tom Wills. The government has contested that trade agreements are not the forum to directly address human rights issues, while arguing that the deal contains provisions that can contribute to the protection and promotion of human …