Sadly, another instrument has been destroyed by the airlines. Florida State University student Carrie Miller’s cello was smashed during a United Airlines flight from California and Tallahassee, while returning from Christmas break. On previous trips, Miller had been allowed to gate check the cello, but this time she was told she would have to go through the regular checked baggage process. She did not have the option of purchasing an extra seat as the flight was completely full. Miller says she does not have the money to replace her cello, but has set up a Go Fund Me page [https://www.gofundme.com/carrie-millers-cello] in hopes of raising enough to purchase a cello before her final graduate performance in April.
Tag Archives: current news
MTV News Votes to Organize
The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) announced in a press release, that the editorial staff at MTV News today announced plans to unionize. More than 80% of MTV News’ editorial staff have signed cards electing the WGAE as their representative in collective bargaining.
“In an age when independent voices are more essential than ever, we are heartened that these digital news creators recognize collective bargaining is the most effective way to protect those voices and to address critical issues like transparency in compensation and other policies, reasonable benefits for all, and an inclusive workplace,” says Lowell Peterson, executive director for WGAE.
Animation Workers Reach $100 million Settlement over Wage-Fixing
Animation and visual effects workers have reached a $100 million settlement with Walt Disney Company, Pixar, and Lucasfilm resulting from a class action lawsuit claiming the defendants violated antitrust laws by conspiring to set animation wages via non-poaching agreements. The workers content the agreements go back to the mid-1990s when George Lucas and then Pixar President Ed Catmull agreed to not raid each other’s employees. Other companies joined the conspiracy later, creating agreements on cold calling and notifying each other when making an offer to someone in the other company.
Equal Pay Is Top Issue for Working Women
A poll conducted by the website InHerSight.com showed that, for the majority of women in the workplace, correcting the gender pay gap is their number one priority. Among concerns listed by the 500 respondents 31.5% deemed correcting the pay gap as their top priority. Other concerns included establishing more flexible work hours (28%), promoting more women to senior leadership (14%), increased parental leave benefits (11%), and better training and responsiveness related to sexual harassment (4.5%).
Minnesota Co-Op Votes to Unionize Despite Threats
The majority of Whole Foods Co-Op workers in Duluth, Minnesota, voted to join United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1189. “The organizing committee worked really hard even though management was working every day to make people afraid,” says Diana Tastad, the lead organizer. “I am so proud of them for sticking together, despite the fear tactics.”
Whole Foods Co-Op is the second Minnesota co-op to organize.
Honeywell Workers Reject New Contract
Honeywell workers represented by the United Auto Workers Local 9 have voted not to accept the company’s latest contract proposal. A lockout began in May after the union rejected the original contract. The new proposal contained some health care changes: guaranteed weekly premiums for health and dental insurance would not go up more than 15% per year and Honeywell would contribute more to employee health care savings accounts to offset increased costs. The UAW member continue to be concerned about other parts of the proposal: changes in overtime eligibility, removal of paid absence allowance days, and freezing of contributions to long-standing “legacy” pension plans.
SEPTA Contract Details Revealed
Details of the contract agreement that ended the November SEPTA Transport Workers strike in Philadelphia have been revealed. The workers, members of Transport Workers Union Local 234, will receive 10.5% pay raises over the next five years, health insurance payments will increase from 1% to 2.5% of pay, and pension payments will increase 12.8% to 15.2%, depending on the years an employee has worked for SEPTA. Absent from the agreement were changes in break-time increments or downtime between shifts for “fatigued” workers which had been a talking point. The increased cost of $146 million over five years will be absorbed entirely within SEPTA’s existing 10-year budget with no additional public funding or fare increases required.
Bidding War for Prince’s Vault
According to Billboard, there’s a bidding war between three major labels to acquire the bounty of unreleased music contained within Prince’s Paisley Park vault. The former member of Local 30-73 (St. Paul-Minneapolis, MN) member was known for advocating for the rights of musicians against the often exploitative practices of those in the music industry.
Estate advisers Charles Koppelman and L. Londell McMillan are shopping the musical holdings for $35 million, Billboard‘s source says. Apparently, Sony, Warner Bros., and Universal have all submitted offers, although each declined to comment.
The vault in the Paisley Park basement—reportedly with time lock and large spinning combination handles, which only Prince knew how to open—contains thousands of hours of unheard live and studio material. Prince would spend days recording the projects that were more likely to end up in a pile on the floor than released on record, Paisley Park employees say. The full collection has yet to be catalogued
Ownership is also an item of contention. The recordings were made by Prince and reside in Prince’s vault, but Prince himself was under a much-maligned contract with Warner Bros. from 1977 to the 1990s and after that, he signed to a series of short-term and one-off deals with Universal, Sony, Epic, and others who, ostensibly could swoop in to lay claim.
Ontario Attorney General Says No to Scalp Bots
So-called “scalp bots” were the reason some people were shut out of Tragically Hip tickets, and it does not sit well with Ontario Attorney General Yasir Naqvi. Now, he wants to do something to stop the scalper bot software employed by resellers to buy up large blocks of tickets locking out individual consumers.
“It won’t be easy; there’s no cure-all to stop criminals using a range of programs and technologies to make bulk ticket purchases, but inaction isn’t the answer either,” Naqvi says. The government must intervene to try and protect consumers, he says.
Tragically Hip fans were blocked from pre-sale tickets for the band, members of Local 518 (Kingston, ON), whose farewell tour came to the attention of the prime minister. Naqvi is consulting with consumer groups, entertainers, and colleagues in other big markets like New York and London, which also struggle to find a solution against the bots. The legislation is due to be introduced next spring.
Delta Air Lines Foundation Makes Pledge to Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
Delta Air Lines Foundation has pledged to make a $2.5 million contribution to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) Musicians’ Endowment Fund to help the orchestra reach its $25 million goal to permanently endow 11 musician positions.
Launched in 2014, the Musicians’ Endowment Fund is a key component of the Woodruff Arts Center’s $100 million Transformation Campaign. The foundation’s gift completes the Musicians’ Endowment Campaign nearly two years ahead of schedule. To date, more than $25 million in funds have been committed to the endowment fund and nine musicians have joined the orchestra over the past year. The Principal Tuba Chair held by Michael Moore, who celebrates his 49th season with the orchestra, will be named the Delta Airlines Chair.
“We are profoundly grateful to the Delta Air Lines Foundation for this transformational gift,” says Jennifer Barlament, executive director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. “[It] will help lift the orchestra into a new era of artistic vitality and service to the community.”
Symphony Orchestra’s Players Association President Danny Laufer says, “This is a reassuring signal that the rebuilding of our orchestra is on the right path towards a brighter future.” Atlanta Symphony Orchestra musicians are members of Local 148-462 (Atlanta, GA).