Pandora Reaches Settlement with Labels —Internet radio service Pandora announced a $90 million settlement with three major record labels—Sony, Universal, and Warner—over royalties for older songs. The settlement follows a similar $210 million deal between the labels and Sirius XM back in June.

Pandora was sued last year for nonpayment of recording royalties for older (pre-1972) songs. “Major settlements with Sirius XM and now Pandora means that an iconic generation of artists, and the labels that supported them, will be paid for the use of their creative works,” Cary Sherman, the chief of the Recording Industry Association of America, says in a statement.

Pandora and Sirius XM still face class action suits from former band members of the Turtles, as well as problems with music publishers in regards to songwriting copyrights. Pandora says it was taking a $23.9 million charge in its third-quarter results, representing the difference between the rates it had wished to pay and its deals with the licensing agencies ASCAP and BMI.

For its third quarter, Pandora reported its revenue had increased 30% from a year ago to $311.6 million. However, its label settlement and write-down of royalties contributed to a net loss of $85.9 million, compared with a loss of a little more than $2 million last year.

20,000 Pensioners Lose Health Benefits in Canada — United Steelworkers (USW) Ontario Director Marty Warren blames Canada’s federal conservative government for 20,000 pensioners losing their health and drug benefits overnight last week.

Under US Steel Canada’s bankruptcy proceedings the company will be severed from its parent company, US Steel, and allowed to stop paying the benefits, as well as its municipal taxes to the City of Hamilton and Haldimand County.

“Our federal government allowed US Steel to take over some of the most modern and efficient steelmaking facilities in North America, based on legal commitments to workers, pensioners, and communities,” says USW Local 8782 President Bill Ferguson. “It’s time for this government to step up—before this election—and help us save and rebuild this industry.

The province of Ontario will provide $3 million for a hardship fund to help US Steel pensioners pay health care and prescription drug costs. It will only fund costs for about six months.

WAGE Act Would Strengthen and Protect Workers — Leading democrats are calling for passage of the Workplace Action for a Growing Economy (WAGE) Act introduced by Senator Patty Murray (D-Washington, DC) and Representative Bobby Scott (D-Virginia). The bill would ament the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) of 1935 to solidify and strengthen worker protections for all workers, union or not. The American workplace has changed dramatically since the labor law was reformed to constrain worker power and then “frozen.”

Under the proposed legislation union organizers would be protected. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, who is helping to lead the push for its passing, says that labor rules “for too long have been rigged against working people” and called the measure “a critical first step in addressing both a changing economy and labor laws that have failed to keep up with a changing workplace.”

TPP a Step Backward — A recent article by International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) President Tom Buffenbarger called on congress to “put American people first and reject the deeply flawed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). “As a labor union whose members build products that are exported all over the world, the IAM has always taken a strong interest in the development and growth of international trade. We know firsthand that trade done right will improve living standards and strengthen our economy,” he began.

“Unfortunately, the recently concluded Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) represents a new low in corporate dominance of our nation’s trade agenda,” he said, explaining that despite rhetoric, it is “a step backward in efforts to achieve effective labor standards and human rights.”

Though the agreement has not been made public yet, Buffenbarger cited reports that indicate among its flaws: weak, ineffective, and substandard labor standards; weakened rules of origin for the auto industry; reduced access to affordable medicine; less effective financial regulations; and secret government tribunals to interpret and enforce the agreement.

The ugly side of Uber revealed its ugly head. Ads on the side of New York City MTA buses promise that drivers who leave their current taxi jobs will earn $60,000 per year with Uber. The spin is that with Uber drivers will own their own existing vehicles. However, over the summer, it was revealed that the company’s scheme included locking drivers into high-interest, high-payment car leases. What were basically unaffordable subprime loans—for example, $1,000 monthly payments at 22.75% interest—locked drivers into Uber. Under scrutiny, Uber’s subprime financing relationship ended, but not before many drivers were sucked in.

In 2016, EMI will lose the rights to the most performed Christmas song of all time, “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.” Covered by musicians ranging from Bruce Springsteen of Locals 399 (Asbury Park, NJ) and 47 (Los Angeles, CA) to Lynyrd Skynyrd to Justin Beiber of Local 418 (Stratford, ON), the rights to the song will revert to the heirs of J. Fred Coots, who co-wrote the tune with Haven Gillespie in 1934. The song would have gone to public domain if not for copyright law amendments and term extensions that will protect the song until 2029.

Since the penning of the tune, the Coots family and EMI have made various agreements. Coots granted renewal rights in 1951 and made a $100,000 rights deal in 1981 that allowed the publisher to continue to exploit the song. The latter deal came after Coots attempted a termination, which was never officially recorded. EMI argued the 1951 deal was still active and the family couldn’t terminate the renewal period of a pre-78 grant.

The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, however, ruled that the parties made it clear that the 1981 agreement was meant to replace the 1951 agreement, and failure to record a termination notice in 1981 was “irrelevant.”