News & Updates

Animation Heroes, Assemble!

There are real people behind your favorite cartoons and this week hundreds of members of The Animation Guild (TAG), Local 839 of the Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), rallied outside DreamWorks Animation offices to present a petition calling for movement on core concerns during the negotiations. TAG has been in negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) since August. “We’re here today because the AMPTP has not responded in a realistic way to our biggest asks,” said Character Designer Michelle Drennan. “We need to show them that we are not going to back down without the things that we need to make sure our industry survives. There have been numerous news articles where they’re talking about replacing us, and cutting our workforce by huge numbers. We’re not just going to sit back and take it.”

Join them in fighting for Animation Workers by posting with #StandWithAnimation AND by signing THIS PETITION.

- AFL-CIO Daily Brief

ZeniMax Video Game Workers Walk Off the Job in Maryland and Texas

Earlier this week, hundreds of Maryland and Texas video game workers at Microsoft subsidiary ZeniMax Studios, members of ZeniMax Workers United-CWA, walked off the job in a one-day strike to call out the company for the lack of progress at the bargaining table on a few key issues. In January 2023, ZeniMax Workers United-CWA formed the first video game studio union at Microsoft, representing over 300 quality assurance workers in Maryland and Texas. ZeniMax Studios is a video game production company known for its popular games such as Elder Scrolls, DOOM, Quake Champions, and Fallout.

CWA Newsletter

New York Times Tech Guild Ends Strike, Continues Contract Fight

Following eight days of an unfair labor practice (ULP) strike, New York Times Tech Guild (TNG-CWA Local 31003) workers have returned to work and ended their boycott of New York Times Games and Cooking. The strike was one of the first tech workers’ strikes in the U.S., and the striking workers ran one of the largest remote pickets in the nation. The Guild is asking supporters to sign a petition urging New York Times management to stop union busting.

CWA Newsletter

LabourStart Prize films screen free this weekend

Two labor films are streaming free this weekend. The Canadian Dream, about the struggles of migrant workers in Canada, and Adidas Owns the Reality, a documentary that follows a wildly successful spoof of Adidas in solidarity with Cambodian garment workers, are the winners of the 2024 LabourStart Prize, awarded at the Canadian Labour International Film Festival (CLIFF) to highlight the contributions of filmmakers to working class culture. Click here to get your free ticket. If you’re in Canada you also have access to all of CLIFF’s 72 events, both physical and virtual, hosted by unions and worker advocacy organizations across that country; click here for details.

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The Streaming Wars are destroying animation!!!

Can you name all the brave toons on the front line?! Help them and The Animation Guild fight back in the streaming wars by posting with #NoContractNoCartoons!

The Animation Guild // #WeAre839 @animationguild

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald – Headstones

Cover song by Headstones 2019; original song by Gordon Lightfoot 1976.

The ship Edmund Fitzgerald – the biggest carrier on the Great Lakes – and crew of 29 were lost in a storm on Lake Superior on November 10, 1975 while carrying ore from Superior, Wisc. to Detroit. The cause of the sinking was never established.

“With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. February 26, 1965 Sermon at Temple Israel of Hollywood

Ber Est @BerEst45953206 #StandWithAnimation #ArtistOnTwitter

Spotted labor art? Email us at info@laborheritage.org

CLICK HERE for our complete labor arts calendar; look for our Labor Arts Calendar edition on Monday

WEEKEND LABOR ARTS CALENDAR

“The Canadian Dream” and “Adidas Owns the Reality”

Friday, November 15, 2024, 12:00 AM until Wednesday, November 20, 2024, 12:00 AM

ONLINE, FREE; Get Your Tickets

The Canadian Dream, about the struggles of migrant workers in Canada, and Adidas Owns the Reality, a documentary that follows a wildly successful spoof of Adidas in solidarity with Cambodian garment workers, are the winners of the 2024 LabourStart Prize.

A Table For Two At The Dill Pickle - A One Act Play By Larry Kirwan

Sunday, November 17, 2024, 2:00 PM until 4:00 PM

Irish American Heritage Center, 4626 M Knox Ave., Chicago, IL  60630

A witty and powerful conversation between Mary Harris "Mother Jones" and Big Jim Larkin.

Soldiers of Production: Lansing and the Arsenal of Democracy

Monday, November 18, 2024, 12:00 PM until 1:15 PM

Michigan State University, Green Room, Main Library, 4 West, 366 W. Circle Drive, East Lansing, MI  48824

Romero Theater Troupe potluck gathering and discussion

Monday, November 18, 2024, 4:00 PM until 7:00 PM|

4614 Bryant St, Denver, CO  

The Romero Troupe is about to turn 20 and has told worker stories on stage throughout our history. Please come if you have any interest in being a part of our collective work. Our discussion will be about how to navigate our challenges as we move into our next 20 years. Contact Jim Walsh at: romerotroupedenver@gmail.com

November 16, 1927: A county judge in Punxutawney, Pa. grants an injunction requested by the Clearfield Bituminous Coal Co. forbidding strikers from speaking to strikebreakers, posting signs declaring a strike is in progress, or even singing hymns. Union leaders termed the injunction “drastic.”

Together We Can Move Mountains: Bev Grant is a cultural worker from Brooklyn, NY; she’s a social justice feminist, a choral director, an occasional bandleader, a dance artist and a photographer. She’s also a much beloved singer/songwriter, and on today’s show, she tells us the story behind one of her best-known songs, and one that seems especially meaningful now.

LAST WEEK’S QUIZ: The CIO in AFL-CIO stands for Congress of Industrial Organizations; it was first formed as the AFL’s Committee for Industrial Organization. 

No Contract, No Wordle! (11/8)

A Wild Woman Sings the Blues and Walks The Line (11/1)

“Solidarity” mural saved in Chicago (10/25)

No Union, No Dancing (10/18)

Chippendales Dancers’ Newest Act – Unionizing! (10/11)

Not Playing Around: World of Warcraft Workers Win Union (10/4)

Bill Lucy: “Change is possible” (9/27)