The Local: Oct. 31, 2024 news roundup

Welcome back to (and Happy Halloween from) The Local, a publication of NYC-DSA Labor Working Group reporting every two weeks. As always, send any tips, corrections, and other feedback to thenyclocal@substack.com. In this issue, childcare workers in the city’s 3K and Pre-K program get an $18 minimum wage, PSC-CUNY members get arrested at a demonstration as contract negotiations stall, and city residents go to vote on a set of ballot measures, which includes a proposition to empower the Department of Sanitation to crack down on street vendors in parks.

Photo credit: Alexandra Chan

Organizing

• Workers at RadicalMedia’s nonfiction division are organizing with WGA East.

• Faculty at the School of Visual Arts are organizing as SVA Faculty United (UAW).

• Building service workers at Claremont Hall are organizing with 32BJ.

• Workers at Public Storage Operating Company are organizing with UAW Local 2179.

• Security guards at Mount Sinai West and Mount Sinai Morningside vote 54-1 to join the Special and Superior Officers Benevolent Association.

• Workers at Building for the Arts NY vote 5-4 against unionizing as the Theatre Shop Union.

• Workers at the Starbucks location at 166 7th Ave in Brooklyn vote 7-2 to join Starbucks Workers United.

Bargaining & Action

• 10/17: McGee Media Union with WGA East reaches their first tentative agreement.   

• 10/22: Drunk Shakespeare workers with Actors Equity reach a tentative agreement. 

• 10/23: New York Taxi Workers lead a motorcade protest from Javits Center to City Hall in protest of Uber and Lyft lockout policies. 

• 10/23: DC37, which represents childcare workers, and the Day Care Council of New York, which represents providers operating care centers in the city’s 3K and Pre-K program, have reached a tentative agreement that sets a new minimum wage of $18 per hour and compounded wage increases of 16.21 percent over five years. [MSN.com]

• 10/25: UAW Staff United (USU) passed a strike authorization vote by 98 percent and  held a practice picket at UAW Region 9A offices. [The Chief Leader]

• 10/28: Dozens of PSC-CUNY members (plus union president James Davis) were arrested at a demonstration at John Jay College while demanding CUNY Trustees make a fair offer after over a year of bargaining. [The Chief Leader]

• 10/30: New York Times Tech Guild with NewsGuild NY holds a rally at NYT offices. 

• 10/31: Student Workers at Columbia UAW will rally in protest of late pay and withheld pay.  

• 10/31: Contract Faculty United UAW will rally at NYU to kickstart bargaining for a first contract.

• 11/14: Barnes & Nobles Union with RWDSU will rally at the Union Square location for wage increases. 

Photo credit: Alexandra Chan

City Hall 

• Councilmember Chris Marte introduced a bill (Int No. 1096) that would protect NYC public sector retirees from being moved into the privatized medicare advantage plan. So far previous efforts to codify these protections have faced opposition both from Adrienne Adams, the council speaker, but also public sector unions. [Work Bites]

• The Safe Hotels Act, which would formalize the (surprisingly) unregulated hotel industry in New York City and prohibit the outsourcing of core functions like front desk and housekeeping staff, overwhelmingly passed a City Council vote 45-4 after a sustained campaign by the Hotel Trades Council, AFL-CIO. [AMNY].

• The union representing NYPD sergeants has declared impasse in its bargaining with the city, thus raising the possibility of arbitration. [The Chief Leader]

• New York City goes to vote on six ballot measures this year. Proposition 2 would expand the Department of Sanitation’s authority to crack down on street vending in public parks (in addition to the NYPD and Parks Department officers, who have been criticized for excessive force in doing so in the past). [The New York Times]

• The city announces a $10k subsidy for costs related to adoption, surrogacy, and egg and sperm donation for its nonunion workers, which amount to about five percent of the total city workforce. The city already covers, among other things, IVF treatments for its union workers (though the terms are the subject of a class action lawsuit alleging discrimination against workers in same-sex relationships); changes to unionized workers’ benefits must go through collective bargaining. [Gothamist] 

Miscellaneous 

• The NYC Comptroller's office put out a report that focused on the creative economy that saw declines in advertising, fashion and music recording employment. The report noted just how some of the declines can be attributed to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA/WGA strike but that overall the industry remains vital while certain segments are still in a post-pandemic recovery. 

• Similarly, film and TV jobs in the city drop as streaming services cut scripted programming. [The City]

• DC 37 Local 1549 will hold elections over the month of November, which follows the local’s fall into national receivership due to alleged financial misdealings. [The Chief Leader] 

• Conductors on the Long Island Railroad (represented by the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, or SMART) are suing the transit agency for failing to protect them on the job; they specifically point to physical assaults that occur when conductors try to collect fares on the train. [ABC7 New York]

• Former workers at the Queens Botanical Garden allege retaliation for unionization and lack of support from DC37.  [The Chief Leader] 

Job Listings 

• Organizer - Doctors Council (Salary: $70,000) 

• Assistant Region Director - IATSE Local 600 (Salary: $118,178 - $157,571) 

• Administrative Assistance - 32BJ SEIU (Salary: $54,775.84) 

A complete list of local union jobs can be found at unionjobs.com, alongside here is the complete list of  New York City’s civil service exams. Additionally if you’re interested in taking a job in a strategic industry and want to be connected through the Labor Working Group, check out this form here.