Volunteers Welcome Incoming LTC Patients with Paint and Passion
For the past 2 Saturdays, we’ve been “producing” our hybrid version of Home Improvement and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on the Wasserman Campus in Woodland Hills. Over 120 volunteers from all parts of the industry – from the MPTF board, guilds and unions, from studios, talent agencies, and business management firms, from staff, family members, and Saving the Lives of Our Own, from prior volunteers on the Herthel home project to newbies to this project – joined together to tape, paint, pot, sweep, and scrub 14 rooms in the Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) that will soon become the new home to our long-term care residents. We may not have been the most talented home improvement crew in town, we may not have been the neatest painters, but boy did the place look great when we were finished!
Trader Joe’s, the popular food chain, which caters to the socially conscious set, had been falling short of its healthful and “progressive” image recently—by refusing to sign onto an agreement to protect tomato pickers. But after a tireless campaign by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), the company has agreed to sign on, and planned protests in front of a Trader Joe’s were canceled.
For well over a year—since fall 2010—the CIW has been pushing for Trader Joe’s to sign on to its Fair Food program, which aims to improve the lot of tomato pickers by calling for better wages, a “penny-per-pound premium” on tomatoes and, most important, a thorough and strict code for fair working conditions.
As the AFL-CIO documented in a study, the situation for immigrants in Alabama has grown increasingly dire: A “humanitarian crisis” has resulted from a draconian anti-immigration law, H.B. 56, one of the nation’s harshest.
The parallels between this law and the old Jim Crow laws (some call this new type of law “Juan Crow”) will be spotlighted in an upcoming reenactment of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery civil rights march next month. Sponsored by the National Action Network along with the AFL-CIO and other labor, civil and human rights organizations, the March 4-9 event will focus attention on recent attacks on voting rights, workers’ rights, education, and immigrants —all of which are modern-day assaults on civil rights.
This week, a high-profile Hollywood director, in collaboration with several nonprofits, lent his camera to the cause of immigrants in Alabama, creating a series of stirring and revelatory videos that ask: “Is This Alabama?” Chris Weitz is best known for directing the third Twilight installment and he recently traveled throughout the state and spoke with people to show the impact of the law and how citizens really feel about it.
One of the biggest tax loopholes that helps keep hedge fund managers in the top 1 percent would be closed by new legislation introduced this week by Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.).
Currently, people who manage other people’s money—like 1 percenter Mitt Romney did at Bain Capital—only pay 15 percent tax on the income they receive as compensation, compared with the up-to-35-percent many Americans pay on their income. Says Levin:
"There is absolutely no reason why income earned for managing other people’s money shouldn’t be taxed in the same way as income earned teaching or working in a factory. This loophole for years has unfairly enabled some of the highest-paid individuals in the country to sharply reduce their tax bills and it is time to close it once and for all."
The technical term for those earnings is carried interest. In exchange for providing the service of managing their investors’ assets, fund managers often take a portion of a fund’s profits, or a carried interest, usually equal to 20 percent of such profits. When a significant portion of funds profits are long-term capital gains, the carried interest is taxed at the 15 percent capital gains rates.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the fight for free speech in San Diego after the city—in response to an organizing drive by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)—banned public speaking in a popular downtown area. In this cross-post from the California Labor Federation’s Labor’s Edge blog, Lorena Gonzalez, secretary-treasurer and CEO for the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, looks at the 100-year-old fight for workers’ rights and today’s struggle for worker justice.
It started as an organizing drive for the International Workers of the World (IWW). But 100 years ago in San Diego, when the Wobblies took to their soapboxes, it turned into a battle to defend free speech that mobilized thousands across the country.
A city ordinance banned public speaking in a downtown area, and protesters were jailed, beaten, tarred and feathered, tortured and even killed for demanding their right to stand on a soapbox and speak. The fight attracted the likes of Emma Goldman, who was nearly attacked by a mob when she arrived in San Diego, and stretched until legal picketing was finally established three years later.
Free speech itself is on stronger footing today. We’ve seen across the country and right here in San Diego that the fight for real freedom continues every day. The freedom of earning a living wage and being able to afford a decent place to live, as well as the freedom of building a secure retirement and having access to basic health care.
While Mitt Romney is campaigning in Michigan this week, workers there are letting him know just how offensive they find his claim that “we should have let Detroit go bankrupt,” when the economy and the auto industry were about to collapse.
Skilled trade electrician and UAW Local 1700 member Jeff Klayo says Romney’s comment is “an attack on American workers.”
"We’re out there trying to get the American dream, we’re trying to keep our jobs, save our jobs, get a good wage, put food on our tables, pay our taxes….If the company is successful, we can be successful. If the company’s taking a downturn, we take a downturn with it."
Not only is Romney’s statement, made in 2008, an assault on working people, it’s really bad economics. On Wednesday, General Motors (GM) announced that 2011 saw its largest profit ever: $7.6 billion. That means profit-sharing for workers, who in turn will plow the money back in to the community—creating even more jobs and economic resurgence.
Foreshadowing the political impact of Romney’s stance, Stacie Steward, a skilled trade electrician and UAW Local 1700 member, put it this way:
"There’s not a person in Michigan who doesn’t have a sister or a brother, a cousin, a friend that is tied to the auto industry. Every Michigan citizen should be appalled by what Mitt Romney said."
Even a contributor to the conservative business publication Forbes writes:
"General Motors (GM) went bankrupt in 2009. But thanks to President Barack H. Obama, it restructured itself and emerged from bankruptcy. GM’s record profit for 2011 vindicates Obama’s action. GM’s record profit for 2011 vindicates Obama’s action."
On Sunday, February 26, the world will celebrate the best the entertainment industry has to offer. The biggest stars and the behind-the-scenes crews who make it all happen will come together at the Oscars® to honor the cinematic creativity and labor of the past year.
But, as we celebrate, we keep in mind the growing problem of online content theft and its effects on the thousands of middle class Americans who make these movies possible.
That's why we want you to join the movement to raise awareness of online content theft by volunteering to host an Oscars® Watch Party.
From a seamstress in North Carolina to a video editor in New York, more than 2 million Americans rely on the entertainment industry for their livelihood. But those jobs are put at risk by criminals abroad that operate illegal websites designed to steal and profit from other people's work.
Your goal as a volunteer house party host is to invite your friends to watch the Oscars® with you, and to learn more about the issue of online piracy.
We've created a user-friendly volunteer host guide to answer all your questions and steer you through the process, and we've even drafted an email you can use as an invitation.
Sunday night, February 26, all eyes will be on this iconic American industry. With your help, we can capitalize on that attention and help educate our friends about the growing problem of online content theft, and together we can fight to protect American creativity and jobs.
The Senate passed a Federal Aviation Administration bill on Monday that includes an anti-union measure bitterly opposed by labor groups.
The bill, which modernizes America's air traffic control system and funds the FAA through 2014, was fought over for four years, leading to a partial shutdown of the FAA last summer because of anti-union measures added by the Republican-controlled House.
It passed 75 to 20, with a majority of Democrats backing it.
Among the controversial provisions were changes to labor law for rail and airline workers -- backed by the airline industry -- that would count anyone who did not vote in an election for a union as voting against it, making it much more difficult to certify attempts to organize new unions.
ATLANTA, – The IATSE Political Action Committee raised over $13,000 at an event held at the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel tonight during the IA’s Mid-Winter General Executive Board Meeting. The reception was attended by officers and representatives of the Alliance as well as local union officers and representatives from all regions of the United States and Canada. The Board meeting is being hosted in by Locals 479, 600, 700, 800, 834, 859, 927, USA 829.
Also during the afternoon session of the meeting, the raffle drawing for the PAC’s contest for a trip to Hawaii was held and the winner was announced. The winner, Alan Rowe, is the Safety and Training Director for Los Angeles Local 728. Although Alan was not present at the meeting, International President Matthew D. Loeb commended him for his monthly commitment to the IATSE-PAC.
President Loeb also expressed his thanks to New Jersey Local 21. Brother Mike Stas, President of the Local, presented the IATSE-PAC with contributions collected from his members totaling $1,135.00.
President Loeb emphasized the importance of the PAC to the International. He said, “The IA PAC is one of the strongest weapons we have against the anti-worker forces that are mounting as we head into the November elections. All of our members have to stay politically involved and participate to give us greater voice in Washington and protect our best interests.”
The Affordable Care Act, which has saved nearly 3.6 million people enrolled in Medicare $2.1 billion on their prescription drugs in 2011, finds a new report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says the health care reform law signed by President Obama in 2010:
"is already saving money for millions of Americans with Medicare. As we move forward, we will close the donut hole completely and save even more money for everyone with Medicare."
The Affordable Care Act—which Republican lawmakers are fighting to repeal—provides a 50 percent discount on brand-name prescription drugs and, beginning this year, a 14 percent discount on generics. Last year, it provided a 7 percent discount on covered generic medications for people who hit the prescription drug coverage gap known as the donut hole, with more than 2.8 million beneficiaries receiving $32.1 million in savings on generics.
Overall, the 3.6 million Americans who hit the donut hole saved an average of $604 on the cost of their prescription drugs. The Affordable Care Act closes the donut hole completely by 2020.
Click here for a state-by-state look at donut hole savings figures for today’s donut and here for a fact sheet.
MOTION PICTURE AND TELEVISION FUND TO BEGIN RE-ADMITTING INDUSTRY MEMBERS TO LONG-TERM CARE FACILITY
The Motion Picture and Television Fund (MPTF) announced today that it will immediately begin admitting additional industry members to the long-term care unit on its Wasserman campus in Woodland Hills. First priority for admission will be given to former MPTF long-term care residents who moved off campus at the time of the announcement of the proposed closure of the unit in 2009. MPTF’s long-term care unit, when fully occupied, will allow for 40 residents.
“We are excited to finally be able to bring more residents into long-term care,” said Bob Beitcher, president and CEO of MPTF. “This will be a pivotal moment for current long-term care residents and their families, other campus residents, and staff. It will restore the continuum of care on campus everyone has been hoping for,” Beitcher finished.
23,400 Good Construction Jobs Coming to Metro! LA Metro passes landmark Construction Careers Policy & largest transit PLA in nation
Yesterday in a hearing room packed with out-of-work construction workers, the LA Metro Board voted unanimously on a Construction Careers Policy that will cover 17 new transit projects worth over $6.2 billion and create more than 23,400 good middle class career jobs over the next five years. Over the next 30 years, the policy could cover up to $72 billion in projects, including Measure R projects, and create hundreds of thousands of good construction careers.
This is the most significant policy of its kind nationwide to create good jobs in the building trades where unemployment is up to 40% while investing in much needed transportation infrastructure. The policy sets out the terms of a project labor agreement that must be agreed to by all Metro contractors before they receive a contract to build Measure R projects and before they hire anyone. The Construction Career Policy will also ensure that 40% of the work hours on Metro construction projects will be performed by workers from areas affected by high poverty and unemployment.
This victory for jobs was made possible through the leadership of the LA County Federation of Labor along with LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, LA/OC Building Trades Council President Robbie Hunter, the building trades unions, LAANE, SCOPE, MOVE LA and many other community-based groups.
"I am looking forward to getting back to work," said Joseph Benjamin, an IBEW electrician, "My daughter is proud of me and my work and I want to continue to be a role model for black youth."
The national Republican party has selected Indiana Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels to respond to President Obama’s State of the Union address next week–sending a clear signal the party is making attacks on working people a top priority in the 2012 elections. Daniels is a key backer of right to work for less (RTW) legislation which state Republican lawmakers, in a stunning display of arrogance, have repeatedly tried to ram through, while thumbing their noses at working Hoosiers–not to mention democracy.
Democratic state house lawmakers yesterday left the legislature to protest moves by the Republican majority, especially the refusal to allow Democrats to offer a vote making RTW a referendum, so that the people of Indiana would vote on it directly. From Huffington Post:
“We wanted the vote to be up or down,” said House Minority Leader Patrick Bauer (D). “The Republican Party wanted to skip the people completely, skip the election process and then skip the referendum process on whether or not you can have this bill, which many consider a ‘right to work for less’ — less pay, less safety less health care.”
With the second anniversary approaching of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case – which opened the floodgates to corporate spending on elections – it’s worth a look at whether playing in politics actually pays off for corporate interests. As it so happens, it does.
Between 2008 and 2010 at least thirty US corporations spent more to lobby congress than they paid in federal taxes over the same time period. Clearly, when it comes to politics, corporations really do spend money to make money. In addition to the “Dirty Thirty”, 280 consistently profitable Fortune 500 companies paid about half the statutory corporate tax rate while spending $2 billion to lobby Congress on tax policy and other issues.
Guilds, AMPTP set March 5 for start of contract talks
With healthcare costs expected to dominate, Hollywood's below-the-line unions have set March 5 as a start date for contract negotiations with the congloms -- less than four months before the current master contract ends July 31.
The first round of negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers should last for several weeks. The unions -- the West Coast locals of the Intl. Alliance of Theatrical & Stage Employees and Local 399 of the Intl. Brotherhood of Teamsters -- are expected to negotiate jointly on healthcare and retirement issues while holding separate bargaining on the remainder of their contracts.
Reps for IATSE, the Teamsters and the AMPTP had no comment on the negotiations.
Both unions have ramped up their activity to heighten membership awareness on the specifics amid rising healthcare costs with a series of explanatory sessions for members, which have included presentations by healthcare expert and consultant John Garner and David Westcoe, exec administrative director with the Motion Picture Industry Pension and Health Plan. The Teamsters have scheduled a Jan. 22 town- hall meeting in Burbank, according to a message to members this week from longtime Local 399 secretary-treasurer Leo Reed.
Get ready for 2012 with classes at the Trade Tech Labor Center.
As we prepare for next November's national elections, we will depend more than ever on educated and trained union warriors. That's what the Trade Tech Center is all about.
The L.A. Labor Movement is making a big impact across the country. We recently sent a 90-person delegation to Ohio to help restore union rights to state workers. Let's continue our great work here in Southern California and beyond.
Take advantage of Labor Studies classes and share the experience of networking with motivated members from a variety of unions and professions.
I'll see you on the frontlines.
In Unity, Maria Elena Durazo Executive Secretary -Treasurer Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO
100th Anniversary of Bread and Roses Strike— Was It the First Occupy?
Today in Lawrence, Mass., union members and their allies will gather at a historic mill building for a re-enactment of the historic Bread and Roses strike that moved the conscience of the nation, bringing national attention to the plight of the families, including young children, who toiled in the dirty and dangerous factories of Lawrence and throughout the country.
The re-enactment kicks off a yearlong celebration of the Bread and Roses centennial, which will commemorate change-making events in Lawrence that gave rise to the U.S. labor movement.
On Jan. 12, 1912, some 25,000 workers at the mills of the American Woolen Company in Lawrence walked off the job when the company cut their pay—already a mere $8 a week for the men, and less for the women and children—after the state legislature passed a law shortening the length of their workweek from 56 hours to 54 hours. Workers stayed off the job for months, enduring beatings from police and the Massachusetts militia, who spared not even women and children.
Some see in the conditions that led to the Bread and Roses strike parallels to today’s growing income disparity between the wealthy and the rest of us, as well as the exploitation of America’s workers by financial interests. Robert Forrant, a history professor at the University of Massachusetts, calls it “the first Occupy movement.” Says Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Steven Tolman:
It’s an unfortunate irony that we have come full circle since 1912. The strikers then were immigrant workers barely able to survive on low wages. Today Lawrence, like many industrial cities, is a place where immigrant workers are really struggling in an unfair economy.
Exactly one year ago today, Film Works celebrated its launch at Los Angeles Center Studios with the support of more than two dozen in-kind sponsors. If you missed the launch, please watch the following video from Shoot Movies in California, which was on hand to offer support and film the event:
LAO’s Incisive Report Should be the Death of GOP Pension Ballot Measures
The Legislative Analyst's Office has found that ballot measures being sponsored by leading state Republicans would bring "large uncertainty" to the state's pension systems, cost governments $1 billion more per year for the next 30 years, and likely would force state and local governments to pay more to compensate teachers, firefighters, police officers, and other public employees. And that's just for starters.
The LAO hit the nail on the head about these sloppily-drafted and extreme ballot measures being advanced by right-wing Republicans. These unworkable initiatives will be an economic disaster for our state, be tied up in the courts for years, result in no significant savings for decades, and squeeze California's middle class even more.
The LAO, which had generally good things to say about Gov. Jerry Brown's pension proposals, found dozens of other flaws with the GOP
Efforts to Derail Bullet Train Driven by Politics as Usual
Among the big political news this week was the release of the Legislative Peer Review Group’s report on the California high-speed rail project. The report recommends that the state freezes the project “at this time” until further assessment is done on its long-term feasibility. Problem is, the report was completed with minimal consultation with the California High-Speed Rail Authority, and ignored many of the details on feasibility included in the Authority’s recent business plan.
Opponents seized on the erroneous report to further their campaign to derail the project. While it might make good politics for some conservatives to oppose a signature program of the Obama White House, it certainly doesn’t make for good policy.
The nation gained 200,000 jobs in December, and the unemployment rate improved to 8.5 percent from 8.6 percent in November, according to Department of Labor data out this morning. The unemployment rate has declined by 0.6 percentage points since August and the number of unemployed workers dropped to 13.1 million from close to 14 million.
The data also show the:
"unemployment rate for adult men decreased to 8 percent in December. The jobless rates for adult women (7.9 percent), teenagers (23.1 percent), whites (7.5 percent), blacks (15.8 percent) and Hispanics (11 percent) showed little change. The jobless rate for Asians was 6.8 percent."
Most industries added jobs, with the exception of construction and government. In 2011, 280,000 jobs were cut in local government, state government, (excluding education) and the U.S. Postal Service.
In December, employment in transportation and warehousing rose (50,000) and manufacturing (23,000). Retail trade continued to add jobs in December, with a gain of 28,000. Health care added 23,000 jobs in December and mining employment rose by 7,000 over the month. Over the year, mining added 89,000 jobs.
The jobs report is a “step in the right direction,” according to the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute (EPI), which pointed out that data also show hours and wages were up, underemployment dropped and the duration of unemployment declined.
The organization cautioned, however that
"The jobs deficit left from losses in 2008/2009 remains well over 10 million jobs; even at December’s growth rate, it would still take about seven more years — until around 2019 — to fill the gap and get back to the pre-recession unemployment rate. We need reports this strong and stronger for many years to come to bring our labor market back to health."
Solid Start For 2012 Box Office — Like 2011
The box office rang in the new just about the way it rang in the old — sounding more like Big Ben than like Tinkerbell, its model for most of the past five months. With the Tom Cruise starrer Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocolremaining in the lead with $29.6 million (24 percent from IMAX screens), the box office for the top 12 films came to about $148 million, virtually flat with the comparable weekend a year ago, when the second week of Little Fockers led with $25.8 million (challenged closely by True Grit with $24.4 million). Placing second was Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, which wound up with around $21 million, followed by Alvin and The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked with $16.4 million.The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo followed in fourth place with $14.8 million, edging out the first full weekend of the Steven Spielberg drama War Horse, which earned an estimated $14.4 million. Nevertheless, with the exception of the first two weekends of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn in November, this was the most rewarding weekend at the box office since the first week of August. The question remains, however, will Hollywood see the box office behave the same way it did a year ago? After the New Year’s Day holiday last year, the box office did not gross more than $145 million until the first weekend of May.
Memo to Indiana lawmakers pushing “right to work” for less law in that state.
A federal judge has invalidated both the anti-union laws pushed through by Idaho GOP lawmakers last session, saying they violate federal law, according to the Spokesman-Review.
"The measures…both expansions of Idaho’s Right-to-Work law, sought to ban “job targeting programs” that use union dues funds to subsidize members’ wages as a way to help contractors win bids, and to ban “project labor agreements” through which contractors sign agreements with unionized workers while bidding on public works projects."
Production Locations: Top 10 US, And Beyond
Bits of information about “Top 10: United States of Production” and “The Top 10 Locations In The Universe” materialized in our inbox today. P3 Update describes itself as “Unifying Preproduction, Production and Postproduction.” The US Top 10 summarizes steps taken by various states to lure or retain production. The Top 10 In The Universe looks at the situation globally. Note the overlaps between the two or the lack thereof. Descriptions in P3‘s separate lists summarize what makes each location attractive to filmmakers. Wonder why California rates tops in the Universe and only fifth in the US.
Question: If Film Incentives in Places Outside California are Such a Bad Deal, Why Do Nearly 40 U.S. States Offer Them?
If you’ve been following the rhetoric about film incentives over the past few years, you may have noticed a shift in who’s taking the lead to promote them.
Whereas not that long ago, film commissioners and government types were the ones extolling the supposed virtues of these programs, these days it’s the programs’ direct beneficiaries who are coming forward to argue for their preservation.
This has all led to a great deal of confusion about the cost of film incentive programs versus their benefit. The big problem is this: when discussing the “benefits” a state receives from enacting a film incentive program, casual observers tend to confuse benefits to the private economy (that is, dollars paid directly to film workers and production-servicing businesses), and benefits to the state government in the form of additional tax revenue. Examples of this kind of confusion abound, but rather than explain how this confusion plays out, we found a short video on YouTube that offers an illustration.
The following video is a PSA made by New Mexico filmmakers to preserve the state’s 25% film tax credit when lawmakers contemplated dismantling it earlier this year. At first blush, the film’s explanation of how film incentives work makes sense, and you might find it especially convincing if you happen to work in the New Mexico film and television industry:
While the video argues that film incentive benefits are simple math, it also presents a distorted view of how film incentive programs actually work. There are essentially three major problems with the video’s portrayal of the film tax credit.
IATSE Motion Picture Benefits Town Hall Meeting IATSE Local 80, Los Angeles, CA
Speakers: IATSE President Matthew Loeb John Garner of Garner Consulting (Presentation, PDF) David Wescoe, Executive Administrative Director of the MPIPHP (Presentation, PDF)
EXCLUSIVE: Sources tell me that, with this round of movie openings, it’s become clear who’s on top and who’s not as far as North American market share for the year 2011. While officially the period doesn’t end until January 2nd, 2012, the major Hollywood studios already know where they stand:
1. Paramount - projected $1.9B
With Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and The Adventures Of Tintinabout to open wide, the studio should reach $1.9B domestic.
2. Warner Bros – projected $1.8B
For the first time in three straight years, the studio won’t be #1 in domestic market share. On the other hand Warner Bros has ranked either one or two domestically for eight of the last 11 years. The underperformance of Sherlock Holmes 2 means WB won’t catch Paramount.
3. Sony Pictures - projected $1.3B
The studio still has The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo opening this week.
4. Disney – projected $1.2B
The studio still has Steven Spielberg’s War Horse opening next Sunday butThe Muppets is running out of gas.
5. Universal - projected $1B
The studio has run out of pics and, with the exception of Bridesmaids andFast And Furious, will be glad to see 2011 end.
6. Fox - projected $950B
Despite having Alvin And The Chipmunks 3 and We Bought A Zoo still to come, as well as the year’s hits Rio and the Planet Of The Apes prequel, Fox is in last place. Another studio glad to see 2011 in the rear-view mirror.
Piracy legislation pits Hollywood against Silicon Valley
Filmmakers, music companies and other copyright holders are backing tough new bills in Congress that would give the Justice Department broad powers to shut down websites that host pirated material.
Film director Penelope Spheeris' new comedy, "Balls to the Wall," had barely premiered in Europe when bootleg copies started popping up on the Internet, throwing its U.S. release into jeopardy. A Spheeris assistant sent out as many as 30 cease-and-desist notices a day in a desperate, but failed, attempt to halt the piracy.
"It's like putting out a forest fire with your bare feet," she said.
That helps explain why Spheeris and other filmmakers are backing tough new legislation making its way through Congress that would give the Justice Department broad powers to shut down websites that host pirated material and would open the door for movie studios, music companies and other copyright holders to seek court injunctions against Internet companies they believe are aiding in copyright theft, which amounts to $58 billion a year.
New York Production Incentives Paying Off, According To Labor Statistics Cited By MPAA
The motion picture and TV production industry is responsible for more than 141,000 jobs in New York, according to an analysis of data recently released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics which covers the year 2010. The MPAA highlighted the analysis in an announcement Wednesday. Figures cited include direct production-related jobs as well as indirect jobs in businesses working with the production industry. Core production jobs covered in the 2010 jobs report of the New York State Comptroller are up to 43,000, an increase of 20% from the 2008 figure cited in that report (36,000), and an increase of 22% over 2009. Production slowed in 2009 due to uncertainty about the state tax incentive program. With additional production-related jobs not captured in the core data, the number of direct jobs reaches 48,690, up 13% (nearly 5,600 jobs) over 2009. Annual job growth between 2009 and 2010 in New York State was flat (0%) and nationwide was down 1%.
In their widest crackdown on online piracy to date, federal authorities on Monday shut down some 150 websites offering counterfeit goods, including DVDs. Among the sites that were closed were www.dvdshopdvd.com and www.dvdsetonline. Those two sites and the others now sport a notice headed by the seals of the Department of Justice, the National Intellectual Property Rights Center and Homeland Security. In a statement, Attorney General Eric Holder said, “Today we have sent a clear message that the Department will remain ever vigilant in protecting the public’s economic welfare and public safety through robust intellectual property enforcement.”
Hollywood Labor Fight Looms as Money for Benefits Wanes
Bitter disputes over health and pension payments to union members have created plenty of drama in states and cities this year. But do not look for a movie about it — Hollywood will be too busy dealing with a labor crisis of its own.
After three relatively peaceful years, the entertainment industry is bracing for a showdown next spring. At issue is an enormous projected shortfall in financing for some of the most jealously guarded perks in show business, the heavily gilded health and pension plans.
No one is talking of a strike yet. In fact, no one with official standing is talking publicly. Leaders of the industry’s craft and blue-collar unions and officials of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the studios and other production companies, have all declined to discuss what will happen when several contracts expire July 31.
The inside story of how the Republicans abandoned the poor and the middle class to pursue their relentless agenda of tax cuts for the wealthiest one percent
The nation is still recovering from a crushing recession that sent unemployment hovering above nine percent for two straight years. The president, mindful of soaring deficits, is pushing bold action to shore up the nation's balance sheet. Cloaking himself in the language of class warfare, he calls on a hostile Congress to end wasteful tax breaks for the rich. "We're going to close the unproductive tax loopholes that allow some of the truly wealthy to avoid paying their fair share," he thunders to a crowd in Georgia. Such tax loopholes, he adds, "sometimes made it possible for millionaires to pay nothing, while a bus driver was paying 10 percent of his salary – and that's crazy."
Preacherlike, the president draws the crowd into a call-and-response. "Do you think the millionaire ought to pay more in taxes than the bus driver," he demands, "or less?"
The crowd, sounding every bit like the protesters from Occupy Wall Street, roars back: "MORE!"
The year was 1985. The president was Ronald Wilson Reagan.
Today's Republican Party may revere Reagan as the patron saint of low taxation. But the party of Reagan – which understood that higher taxes on the rich are sometimes required to cure ruinous deficits – is dead and gone. Instead, the modern GOP has undergone a radical transformation, reorganizing itself around a grotesque proposition: that the wealthy should grow wealthier still, whatever the consequences for the rest of us.
Modern-day Republicans have become, quite simply, the Party of the One Percent – the Party of the Rich.
Moorpark City Council Gives Movie Studio Project Go-Ahead
The studio will be built along Los Angeles Avenue, west of Gabbert Road.
The Moorpark City Council unanimously voted Wednesday night to allow the development of the Moorpark West Movie Studio to move forward.
The 559,450-square-foot studio complex could be completed in as little as three years, according to Valerie Draeger, president of Triliad Development, Inc., which filed the project’s application on behalf of Los Angeles Avenue, LLC. She estimated design completion and permitting could take about a year and a half and construction could take another year and a half.
You may recall the hysterical hoopla from the business world this summer when the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued an even-handed, simple and straight rule that says employers must display an 11-by-17-inch poster (available at no cost from the NLRB) informing workers of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act. The placard tells workers about their right to join a union and their right not to join a union.
Yet Big Business groups and corporate flaks are portraying the poster as the first shot of Armageddon. Our friends at American Rights at Work (ARAW) have gathered some of these outlandish claims in this new “It’s Just a Poster” video.
Losing One Big-Budget Movie Worse than Losing Three Entire Seasons of Lakers Games for L.A. Economy
Local media outlets from CBS local 2 to the Los Angeles Times have been heavily reporting the impact that an NBA lockout will have on the local economy and the thousands of people who work in and around the Staples Center during a combined 82 home games for the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers. If only the media would focus such attention on runaway production (we will do so and tie in our point below). In a recent interview on American Public Media’s Marketplace, one of the chief economists at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) estimated the economic impact of a single sold-out Lakers game was roughly $800,000:
As the congressional Super Committee struggles to meet next week’s deadline for a plan to find $1.2 trillion in budget savings over the course of the next decade, some millionaires are targeting Capitol Hill with an unlikely message: Tax us more.
Earlier this week, we reported that Republican members of the committee proposed permanently extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, a move that AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka dubbed “Robin Hood in reverse.”
At an ad hoc hearing on job creation, sponsored by the Congressional Progressive Caucus today, members of the group Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength testified to advocate for a more progressive tax structure that would ultimately tax them more. The alternative to continuing to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy will likely mean cuts in programs vital to the well-being of working people, such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
IATSE Locals Unanimously Endorse Rep. Howard Berman
IATSE Represents Over 35,000 Working Men and Women in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA – On October 26th, the West Coast Studio Locals of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) unanimously endorsed U.S. Congressman Howard L. Berman to represent California's 30th District in the United States Congress. These Locals represent over 35,000 Los Angeles-area men and women who make their living in the motion picture and television production industries and work in crafts ranging from costumers, set designers, grips, cinematographers, to propmakers.
“Our Los Angeles Locals endorse Howard Berman because they recognize he has, throughout his decades of public service, been a consistent, reliable champion of the working men and women in the movie and television industries and the labor movement as a whole,” said Matthew Loeb, IATSE International President. “Howard's record of extraordinary legislative accomplishments on behalf of our members is unparalleled. When it comes to protecting our jobs and livelihoods, Howard Berman is a workhorse, not a show horse.”
“I'm grateful for this important endorsement and acknowledgement of my work in Congress,” said Congressman Berman. “The motion picture and recording industries are the lifeblood of the Valley's economy. Throughout my entire career in Congress, I've worked to protect the good paying jobs held by the working men and women who create and produce the films and music loved all over the world. The entertainment industry is one of the few American industries with a favorable balance of trade and we must be vigilant in protecting it."
Throughout his career Howard Berman has championed labor rights, including the right to bargain collectively. First as a labor lawyer, Howard Berman represented unions, including IATSE, in organizing efforts. As a state Assemblyman, he authored, sponsored, or negotiated nearly every piece of labor rights legislation that was enacted during his tenure. Most notably, Berman spearheaded the first in the nation law to provide farmworkers with the right to organize and bargain collectively. And as a U.S. Congressman, he has authored and passed legislation to protect movies and TV shows against theft, while also supporting every major labor rights bill. Most recently, on October 26th of this year, Howard Berman joined the bipartisan leadership of the House Judiciary Committee as primary sponsors of the “Stop Online Piracy Act,” which will protect the movies and TV shows made by IATSE members against theft by foreign commercial websites.
Separating Fact from Fiction: The Truth About the Right-Wing Attacks on the Postal Service
The US Postal Service is the second largest employer in the United States, after the Department of Defense, employing more than half a million workers in good union jobs. It’s also the second largest employer of military veterans; more than 22% of all postal employees have served in the U.S. armed forces. But if Republicans in Congress get their way and succeed in ending Saturday mail delivery, as many as 200,000 Post Office jobs would be lost. With Veterans Day coming up, it couldn’t be a more fitting time to draw attention to this deceptive effort by the right wing to strip thousands of our brave service men and women of their jobs, and leave our troops returning home from war with even fewer employment options.
Not surprisingly, the right-wing politicians seeking to gut the Postal Service allege that the USPS is “bankrupt,” and eliminating Saturday mail delivery (a large source of revenue) would magically save money. But the fact is, these claims are misleading, short-sighted and just plain wrong -- and it’s time we expose the truth.
“Labor’s Edge” sat down with John Beaumont of the National Association of Letter Carriers to help distinguish fact from fiction in the debate around the Postal Service.
In California, 3,135 bridges are deficient—and 82,647,465 vehicles cross those bridges every day. Meanwhile, 12.1 percent of Californians are jobless.
With so many Californians out of work and so many bridges and other pieces of critical infrastructure in need of work, there’s a simple solution: Congress must pass legislation putting jobless Americans to work fixing critical infrastructure—bridges, schools, roads, ports and more.
These projects don’t just create good jobs for the people who do the original work—though that’s a big part of why they are important right now. They also make our economy perform better in the long term by increasing productivity. And they make America and our state better, safer places to live.
Immediate work on California’s crumbling infrastructure is a start. But we also need to pass a fully funded surface transportation reauthorization and start now on even bigger projects—world-class communications and energy systems, high-speed rail and other infrastructure we need to be competitive in the 21st century.
I haven’t been to China, though I hope to go soon. But I am told that when you fly to Shanghai, you land in a brand-new airport, you have high-speed broadband access from the moment you arrive and you can get on a high-speed train in the arrival terminal that will take you directly to downtown Shanghai at speeds faster than 100 miles per hour.
This just isn’t available in any U.S. city. But we can change that. We can meet these standards—and beat them. But only if our leaders rise to the challenge.
Thank you for all the work you do.
In Solidarity,
Richard L. Trumka President, AFL-CIO
P.S. In tough times, America has come together and put America back to work by building and rebuilding our infrastructure. But so far, the Republicans won’t do it. That’s why we’re taking the pressure to every individual member of Congress today—highlighting just how much work there is to be done and how many jobless Americans are ready to get to work.
The middle class and the American Dream that created it are under attack as never before. But there is a real uprising sweeping the nation to save the middle class.
The Campaign for America’s Future (CAF) is teaming up with Van Jones’ “Rebuild The Dream” organization for the “Take Back the American Dream” conference Oct. 3-5 in Washington, D.C. This year, the CAF annual conference will focus on adding gas to the grassroots fire that has already been lit in Wisconsin and town halls all over the country.
(Online registration for the conference is now closed. You may still register on-site starting at 8 a.m. on Monday at the Washington Hilton, 1919 Connecticut Ave, N.W. For an agenda, list of speakers and other conference information, click here.)
Reagan Called for an End to ‘Crazy’ Tax Loopholes that Let Millionaires Pay Less than Bus Drivers
When President Obama released his plan for “the Buffett rule,” which involves closing tax loopholes and ensuring that millionaires pay their fair share in taxes, he explained that “middle-class families shouldn’t be paying higher taxes than millionaires and billionaires.” “Warren Buffett’s secretary shouldn’t pay a higher tax rate than Warren Buffett,” he said.
Ever since, Republicans have been attacking Obama for inciting “class warfare.” “It looks like the President wants to move down the class warfare path,” said House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI). “I don’t think I would describe class warfare as leadership,” agreed Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH).
