Boeing and IAM agree to 4 year deal

Sorry gotta run, just squeezing this info in while I'm running out the door

From labourstarts newsfeed

• Boeing, union agree on 4-year deal

• Boeing, machinist union agree tentative deal

• Boeing, machinists in tentative deal to end strike

• Machinists in Tentative Deal with Boeing

• Boeing unions 'reach strike deal'

Finally beat Kirsten to the punch, hopefully when she writes a new story she can bring it here

West Coast Longshoremen and shippers reach tentative 6 year agreement, full coverage continues with pact

Haven't written much about this, but I'm glad a tentative agreement has been reached

From Google News

« View all web results for ilwu reaches 6 year tentative agreement

Labor Notes

West Coast dockworkers reach tentative 6-year deal with shippers International Herald Tribune, France - 16 hours ago The International Longshore and Warehouse Union announced a six-year agreement Monday after lengthy weekend negotiations with Pacific Maritime Association. ... Tentative Agreement Reached Covering 25000 Workers at 29 West ... FOXBusiness Union, shippers reach accord on contract San Francisco Chronicle Dockworkers Reach Tentative Deal Wall Street Journal Reuters - Los Angeles Business Journal (subscription) all 272 news articles »

West Coast dockworkers reach deal with shippers The Associated Press - 8 hours ago The union previously reached an agreement with shippers on a health care plan expected to cost about $500 million this year. The union had sought to retain ...

Wall Street Journal

US West Coast dockworkers talks go past deadline Reuters UK, UK - Jul 1, 2008 A six-year contract covering dockworkers up and down the West Coast expired at 5 pm (0000 GMT) on Tuesday but representatives for employers and for the ... Ports labor talks still amicable Long Beach Press-Telegram West Coast shippers, union still bargaining Philadelphia Inquirer Clock ticks down on US West Coast dockworkers contract Reuters UK all 129 news articles »

Here's an article that explains more, from Patrick Burnson, the Executive Editor of Logistics Managment, "Ocean cargo: ILWU and PMA reach tentative agreement on contract" (7/29/08):

SAN FRANCISCO—Following what has been described as “marathon weekend bargaining session,” leaders from the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) announced a preliminary agreement on terms for a new six year contract covering more than 25,000 dockworkers at 29 West Coast ports. The leaders shook hands in San Francisco over the proposed agreement late yesterday.

Shippers, who had been hoping that a contract would be signed before the last one expired on July 1, welcomed the news nonetheless.

“We are just happy that this (bargaining session) is through,” said Joel Anderson, president of the International Warehouse and Logistics Association (IWLA).“Now we can get back to the business of moving freight.”

The agreement is subject to ratification by the ILWU and PMA membership. The ILWU and PMA have agreed to extend the previous agreement and resume normal port operations.

ILWU president Bob McEllrath and PMA president Jim McKenna said the proposed agreement meets the needs of both workers and the industry. It allows West Coast ports to be competitive and provides the good jobs that workers and communities need.

The parties have agreed not to discuss details of the agreement until the ILWU a nd PMA leadership teams have communicated with their respective membership.

The West Coast longshoremen are the highest-paid blue-collar workers in America. Average full-time wages for fully registered workers exceed $136,000. ILWU members also enjoy fully employer-paid health benefits, with no premiums or deductibles and 100 percent coverage for standard medical benefits. Based on a tentative agreement, those fully-paid benefits would continue.

At the same time, the PMA has reminded shippers that West Coast ports generate almost $1.3 trillion in domestic business impacts – representing 11 percent of total U.S. gross domestic product – and support more than 8 million direct and indirect U.S. jobs.

Hope it works out OK for all parties.

NY: Teamster local 282, the concrete drivers, back to work with tenative agreement, ending 10 day strike

“The strike is officially over. Workers will be back to work on Monday.” -Carolyn Daly, a spokeswoman for IBT Local 282

Steven Greenhouse at The NY Times (7/11/08) reports:

The union local representing striking concrete truck drivers in New York City announced on Thursday night that it had reached a tentative contract with the city’s concrete producers.

Carolyn Daly, a spokeswoman for the union, which has been on strike since July 2, said: “The strike is officially over. Workers will be back to work on Monday.”

The strike, which affected 450 concrete-mixing trucks, has halted or greatly slowed construction at scores of projects across the city, including the Freedom Tower at ground zero; the Second Avenue subway; the new Yankee Stadium; Citi Field, the ballpark that will replace Shea Stadium; and many high-rise apartment buildings.

Ms. Daly said the union, Local 282 of the Teamsters, and the Association of New York City Concrete Producers reached the agreement after three days of intense negotiations.

On Thursday afternoon, the Quadrozzi Concrete Corporation, which provides concrete for the Freedom Tower, among other major projects, announced that it had reached an agreement with Local 282.

John Quadrozzi Jr., president of Quadrozzi Concrete, said his company, which has 50 trucks, decided it would be better to negotiate independently of the concrete producers’ association.

“We reached an understanding and I think everyone’s happy about it,” he said. “Most important, we’ll get concrete to our sites, starting tomorrow.”

Neither management nor the union would discuss details of the association’s settlement or the separate Quadrozzi agreement.

Read it in it's entirety at the Times

American Axle strike of 2008 ends

From the LA Times (5/23/08) :

Workers for GM supplier vote to accept cuts, end strike
From Bloomberg News

Workers for American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. approved a contract Thursday that cuts wages and shuts two plants, ending a 12-week strike that idled production at its largest customer, General Motors Corp.

A majority of the 3,650 United Auto Workers members at five plants in Michigan and New York voted to approve a four-year agreement that will reduce wages and provide buyouts to workers who agree to quit, said Adrian King, president of union Local 235, which represents workers in Detroit.

"It passed," King said of the vote at the largest and last union to ratify the agreement. "Good or bad, now we can start getting our lives back together."

The approval paves the way for GM to open 20 plants that have shut or partially closed because of parts shortages.

American Axle will reduce wages and pare its U.S. manufacturing presence while avoiding the bankruptcy filings that were the fate of other suppliers, including Delphi Corp. and Dana Holding Corp.

Under the agreement, hourly pay will drop by more than one-third for some jobs, to a range of $10 to $26 across all five plants involved in the strike, according to a proposal distributed at a UAW meeting in Detroit on Sunday.

The base pay for production workers would be about $18 an hour, down from as high as $28.14. Worker contributions for health insurance would rise 3% annually starting in 2010.

American Axle will close a forge plant in Detroit and a factory in Tonawanda, N.Y., union leaders said at Sunday's meeting.

The company will also provide buyouts worth $140,000 to workers with more than 10 years of experience. Cash payments over three years adding up to no more than $105,000 are designed to soften the blow from lower wages.

About 1,172 members voted yes and 429 voted no at Local 235 on Thursday, King said. Four other locals, including two more in Michigan and two in New York, voted in favor of the agreement earlier this week.

"I think with the economy the way it is, with the truck sales the way it is, I feel that's what people thought they had to do," said Local 235 shop chairman Dana Edwards.

More American Axle strike headlines below

American Axle strike of 2008 ends

From the LA Times (5/23/08) :

Workers for GM supplier vote to accept cuts, end strike
From Bloomberg News

Workers for American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. approved a contract Thursday that cuts wages and shuts two plants, ending a 12-week strike that idled production at its largest customer, General Motors Corp.

A majority of the 3,650 United Auto Workers members at five plants in Michigan and New York voted to approve a four-year agreement that will reduce wages and provide buyouts to workers who agree to quit, said Adrian King, president of union Local 235, which represents workers in Detroit.

"It passed," King said of the vote at the largest and last union to ratify the agreement. "Good or bad, now we can start getting our lives back together."

The approval paves the way for GM to open 20 plants that have shut or partially closed because of parts shortages.

American Axle will reduce wages and pare its U.S. manufacturing presence while avoiding the bankruptcy filings that were the fate of other suppliers, including Delphi Corp. and Dana Holding Corp.

Under the agreement, hourly pay will drop by more than one-third for some jobs, to a range of $10 to $26 across all five plants involved in the strike, according to a proposal distributed at a UAW meeting in Detroit on Sunday.

The base pay for production workers would be about $18 an hour, down from as high as $28.14. Worker contributions for health insurance would rise 3% annually starting in 2010.

American Axle will close a forge plant in Detroit and a factory in Tonawanda, N.Y., union leaders said at Sunday's meeting.

The company will also provide buyouts worth $140,000 to workers with more than 10 years of experience. Cash payments over three years adding up to no more than $105,000 are designed to soften the blow from lower wages.

About 1,172 members voted yes and 429 voted no at Local 235 on Thursday, King said. Four other locals, including two more in Michigan and two in New York, voted in favor of the agreement earlier this week.

"I think with the economy the way it is, with the truck sales the way it is, I feel that's what people thought they had to do," said Local 235 shop chairman Dana Edwards.

More American Axle strike headlines below

American Axle/UAW reach tentative pact, Cheektowaga to stay open, Tonawanda Forge to close

There is a tentative agreement between AAM and UAW, not many details as of yet. Buffalo Cheektowaga facility to stay open, Tonawanda Forge to close, don't know much more yet, details will be released Sunday morning. WSBT DTV reports "A spokesperson who was briefed on the agreement says the auto part supplier has boosted its wage offer and increased payments it will give workers to take a wage cut."

From AFL-CIO Blog (5/17/08):

The UAW and American Axle Manufacturing have reached a tentative agreement to end a strike by 3,600 UAW members at American Axle plants in Michigan and New York. The workers have been on strike since Feb. 26. The tentative pact was announced late yesterday.

Says UAW President Gettelfinger:

Our members at American Axle have displayed extraordinary solidarity during this strike. the bargaining committee worked extremely hard to achieve this tentative agreement and they have voted to recommend it to the membership.

Details of the tentative agreement will be presented to UAW members who work in the two Detroit area plants at a meeting tomorrow morning. Meetings for workers at the other three American Axle facilities are being scheduled.

Buffalo's News 4 reports:

About 116 people work at the Cheektowaga plant.

The agreement does call for closing the Tonawanda Forge, which employs around 400.

State Assemblyman Dennis Gabryszak, who was Town Supervisor when American Axle moved into Cheektowaga, has mixed feelings.

Gabryszak said, "For them to be able to go back to work knowing they'll have jobs for at least the next four years that's the good thing. Of course the downside is losing those jobs in Tonawanda plant."

Klostermann said, "There's a lot of skepticism, sure there's probably a general uplifting feeling but for the most part until we see what's going to be offered you really can't let your guard down."

The workers have been on strike for eleven and-a-half weeks.

More American Axle strike headlines below

American Axle/UAW reach tentative pact, Cheektowaga to stay open, Tonawanda Forge to close

There is a tentative agreement between AAM and UAW, not many details as of yet. Buffalo Cheektowaga facility to stay open, Tonawanda Forge to close, don't know much more yet, details will be released Sunday morning. WSBT DTV reports "A spokesperson who was briefed on the agreement says the auto part supplier has boosted its wage offer and increased payments it will give workers to take a wage cut."

From AFL-CIO Blog (5/17/08):

The UAW and American Axle Manufacturing have reached a tentative agreement to end a strike by 3,600 UAW members at American Axle plants in Michigan and New York. The workers have been on strike since Feb. 26. The tentative pact was announced late yesterday.

Says UAW President Gettelfinger:

Our members at American Axle have displayed extraordinary solidarity during this strike. the bargaining committee worked extremely hard to achieve this tentative agreement and they have voted to recommend it to the membership.

Details of the tentative agreement will be presented to UAW members who work in the two Detroit area plants at a meeting tomorrow morning. Meetings for workers at the other three American Axle facilities are being scheduled.

Buffalo's News 4 reports:

About 116 people work at the Cheektowaga plant.

The agreement does call for closing the Tonawanda Forge, which employs around 400.

State Assemblyman Dennis Gabryszak, who was Town Supervisor when American Axle moved into Cheektowaga, has mixed feelings.

Gabryszak said, "For them to be able to go back to work knowing they'll have jobs for at least the next four years that's the good thing. Of course the downside is losing those jobs in Tonawanda plant."

Klostermann said, "There's a lot of skepticism, sure there's probably a general uplifting feeling but for the most part until we see what's going to be offered you really can't let your guard down."

The workers have been on strike for eleven and-a-half weeks.

More American Axle strike headlines below

Viewers finding new media alternatives, producers hoping to come to terms with writers before they lose the store

Funny as the producers are trying to end the strike as quickly as possible now that their viewer base is turning to the alternative media that this strike is all about.

(1)It is an agreement that protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery. It creates formulas for revenue-based residuals in new media, provides access to deals and financial data to help us evaluate and enforce those formulas, and establishes the principle that, "When they get paid, we get paid." - wrote Michael Winship, President of Writers Guild of America - East Coast and Patric M. Verrone, President of Writers Guild of America - West Coast in a joint letter to WGA members.

Not going to give many details, only that it's about time that the Producers made an effort to add new media to the contract, it's a bit confusing to me, as I'm sure it is for the Writers who are voting on it today. Hopefully the clips provided can explain the terms better. New media is in the language.

(2)Rafat Ali of Paid Content has gotten a hold of the terms, and, well, to say that the formulas are complex is a bit of an understatement. But we’ll try to boil it down some for you.

One of the main thrusts of the strike was the lack of residual payments for the use of written content via online sources, referred to as “new media”. Though most of the videos are streamed for free, the companies were collecting advertising revenue, with none of it going to the writers.

The proposed deal from the AMPTP is for the writers to receive initial payments for the first two minutes of a program; then a smaller fee for each additional minute past that, with the minimum payment being equal to the amount for the first two minutes. For dramas, it is $618 for the first two minutes, and $309 for each additional minute. For comedy-variety and daytime serials (soap operas), the payments will be $309 for the first two minutes, and $155 for each additional minute. There is also some question about how long the rights will be in effect. For free streams it is 13 weeks. For paid downloads it is 26 weeks.

Now, if the content is original, and has a budget of over $25,000, there is an entirely separate set of rules that apply. For original content, it switches to percentages of the producer’s gross receipts for the product. Downloaded rentals of 1.2%; while sales are figured at .36% for the first 100,000 sales, and .7% for each additional sale on television programs, and .65% for feature films.

The numbers keep pouring in from there, all percentage based for up to two years of online usage of the products.

As we mentioned earlier today, television is losing ratings due to the strike, and online viewing seems to be picking up those missing viewers, so “new media” is truly an important point of contention for both sides. When the last strike happened in 1988, it lasted for 22 weeks. There was no alternative place for viewers to turn. But now with online content, producers are probably seeing that they could lose viewers permanently if they don’t hurry and settle the strike.

Sources:
(1) eFluxMedia (2) Mashable social network news
Related Links at UnionReview: WGA Articles

Directors Guild Union tentative agreement possibly paves the way for end of Writers strike

From: MercuryNews

Directors union reaches tentative deal with Hollywood studios

By Charlie McCollum
Mercury News

Article Launched: 01/17/2008 03:37:17 PM PST

Television and film directors have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract with the major media conglomerates, including new language and payment formulas covering digital media.... The DGA agreement could serve as a template for a new writers' contract and for one with the Screen Actors Guild of America. The actors union's agreement with the studios and networks expires in June.

Gil Cates, chairman of the DGA's negotiating committee, said in a statement that "two words describe this agreement - groundbreaking and substantial. There are no rollbacks of any kind."

The DGA agreement reportedly includes increases in wages and residual payments, establishes guild jurisdiction over programs created for the Internet and sets a payment formulas for paid Internet downloads and streaming of original programming online.

Digital media has been the main stumbling block in negotiations between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers - which represents such major media companies as Disney, CBS and NBC-Universal - and the writers' union.
Continued at site

According to Bloomberg.com:

Studios Accord With Directors May Help Resolve (Writers Guild) Strike(update 3)
By Michael White and Andy Fixmer Jan. 18

The labor agreement reached late yesterday between Hollywood directors and movie and television studios may help resolve a writers strike that has put more than 10,000 people out of work.

The Directors Guild of America reached the three-year accord yesterday with the studios' bargaining entity, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the groups said in a statement. They began talks Jan. 12.

The deal may serve as a model for negotiations between the studios and writers, who walked off the job Nov. 5. Directors won increased pay for Internet distribution, an issue splitting the studios and the Writers Guild of America. Their talks broke off Dec. 7.

``This may be the beginning of the end of the strike,'' Jonathan Handel, a Los Angeles-based entertainment attorney with TroyGould, said in an interview. ``It's extremely unlikely the writers are going to be able to achieve improvement over what the directors have negotiated.''

Directors get an overall wage increase of 3 percent for primetime shows and daytime serials, and 3.5 percent for all other programming. The agreement increases pay for films and TV shows sold on the Web. It also sets pay levels for content that is streamed for free over Internet sites.

``This was a very difficult negotiation that required real give and take on both sides,'' said DGA president Michael Apted in the statement.Continued at site

Sorry don't have much to add, real busy today. Would be nice to see this end so the writers can get back to work