Independent US West Coast refiner Tesoro Corp has agreed to pay $8.08 million to 769 United Steelworkers union members in California and Washington State who were denied bonuses while on strike in 2015, the US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) reported. The bonuses were awarded March 6, 2015 to nonstriking employees for the previous year, but Tesoro withheld the bonuses from the striking workers, contending it was in accordance with an agreement between the union and the company. Complaints were filed with the NLRB by workers at the company’s Carson, California, and Anacortes, Washington, refineries alleging failure to pay the bonuses was done in retaliation for the strike and an unlawful modification of the agreement, the NLRB said. Under the settlement agreement, Tesoro admits no violation of the US National Labor Relations Act, the NLRB says.
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Musicians Union Applauds Introduction of the ARTS Act
The AFM applauded the introduction of federal legislation to streamline the visa process for musicians and other artists traveling to the US.
Currently the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is instructed to process arts-related O and P visas in 14 days. Unfortunately many artists have encountered outrageous delays—with some visas taking six months.
The Arts Require Timely Service (ARTS) Act, introduced by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), would reduce waiting times by requiring USCIS to treat as a premium processing case (15-day turn around), free of additional charge, any nonprofit arts-related O and P visa petitions that it fails to adjudicate within 14 days.
“I want to thank Senators Hatch and Leahy for their commitment to the arts and for their leadership on this issue. Unfortunately, many Canadian musicians have suffered economically from gig cancellation and job loss in the US because of bureaucratic backlogs, despite current law. The ARTS Act will help musicians by repairing our broken visa system,” says AFM President Ray Hair.
For some time, the AFM has been working with a broad group of organizations including the League of American Orchestras, Performing Arts Alliance, and The Recording Academy to improve the visa process.
Master New Music Skills Twice as Fast
New research shows that the key to learning a new motor skill, like a new instrument or playing technique, is not how many hours you spend practicing, but the way you practice. By subtly varying training, you can keep your brain active throughout the learning process and can halve the time it takes to get up to scratch.
“If you practice a slightly modified version of a task you want to master, you actually learn more, and much faster, than if you just keep practicing the exact same thing multiple times in a row,” says lead researcher Pablo Celnik, from Johns Hopkins University. Scientists believe it has to do with reconsolidation, the process whereby existing memories are recalled and modified with new knowledge. The goal is to develop novel behavioral interventions and training schedules, which give people improvement for the same amount of practice time. The research also has strong implications for rehabilitation.
Record Number of Workers Identified as Contractors
For the second year in a row, the Louisiana Workforce Commission identified a record 19,956 workers that employers misclassified as independent contractors in 2015. The agency also found employers had more than $50 million in unreported taxable wages and about $1.5 million in unreported and unpaid unemployment insurance taxes.
The National Employment Law Project says the practice of classifying employees as independent contractors robs workers of legal protection and unemployment and workers’ compensation insurance funds of billions of dollars each year. According to the LA commission, misclassification hurts employers who play by the rules, putting them at a competitive disadvantage. Employers who misclassify workers as contractors can cut nearly 30% in payroll and related taxes that would otherwise be paid for employees. The practice is widespread, but occurs most frequently in construction, leisure, and hospitality.
Lawsuits Claim Disney Colluded to Replace US Workers
Before being laid off from Walt Disney World, Orlando, one year ago, Leo Perrero spent months training a temporary immigrant from India to do his technology job. Along with former Disney employee Dena Moore, he has filed a lawsuit in federal court against Disney and two global consulting companies, HCL and Cognizant, which brought in foreign workers. The lawsuits represent the first time Americans have gone to federal court to sue both outsourcing companies and the American company that contracted with those businesses, alleging they collaborated intentionally to supplant Americans with H-1B workers.
The Labor Department is investigating the outsourcing at Disney, as well as at Southern California Edison, a utility that laid off hundreds of American workers in 2014. At least 30 former Disney workers filed complaints with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, claiming that they faced discrimination as American citizens.
Canadian Unions Celebrate Repeal of Bills C-377 and C-525
Last week, Canadian unions celebrated as the federal government tabled legislation to repeal controversial bills C-377 and C-525. The bills forced redundant and unreasonable financial reporting on unions, making it more difficult for Canadians in federally-regulated workplaces to join a unions.
“This proves what we’ve been saying all along: that these bills were nothing more than an attempt to undermine unions’ ability to do important work like protecting jobs, promoting health and safety in the workplace, and advocating on behalf of all Canadian workers,” says Canadian Labour Congress president Hassan Yussuff. “We are pleased that this new government recognizes the importance of fair labour relations, and supports the role of unions in the workplace.”
Bill C-377 was pushed through Parliament by the former Conservative government in June 2015 despite loud opposition from many different groups, including the NHL Players Association, Conservative and Liberal senators, constitutional experts, Canada’s privacy commissioner, the Canadian Bar Association and the insurance and mutual fund industry. The Liberal government took control this fall and promised to repeal both bills.
Sanders Receives CWA Endorsement
Bernie Sanders has received the endorsement of the Communications Workers of America (CWA). The 700,000-member union said the decision was a reflection of strong support for Sanders by rank-and-file CWA members.
South Korea’s Secret Weapon: K-Pop
In response to North Korea’s most recent nuclear bomb test, which it claimed was a hydrogen bomb, South Korea amped up propaganda broadcasts aimed at the North. Aside from speech designed to make North Korean soldiers doubt their regime, South Korea is blasting it’s own genre of music, k-pop. The music, popular in the South, but banned in the North, includes such groups as girl band Apink and boy band Big Bang. South Korean military claim the broadcasts from 11 sites along the border can be heard as far as 10 km (6.2 miles) into the North during the day, and up to 24 km (15 miles) across at night. The people of North Korea are only allowed to listen to government-controlled radio and television stations, though defectors have reported that South Korean popular music is frequently smuggled in on USB sticks and DVDs.
West Virginia Newspaper Decries “Right to Work”
As West Virginia’s Republican legislature announced its plan to introduce “right to work” for less legislation, the state’s leading newspaper denounced it. In a Charleston Gazette-Mail editorial the paper said, in part: “It might be good marketing by out-of-state political interests, but it’s not good policy. What is the problem that ‘right to work’ is supposed to cure? It appears to be having any union workers in the state at all. It sounds like a cure that is worse than the disease, a prescription to drive down wages everywhere and make it less likely that injured workers will report problems before they become fatalities. Who needs more of that?” Workplace deaths are 54% higher in “right to work” states, while employee earnings are $6,000 a year lower, and seven of the 10 states with the highest unemployment rates are “right to work.”
Calgary Designates 2016 Year of Music
Calgary, Alberta, Mayor Naheed Nenshi has declared 2016 the Year of Music in Calgary. The city will host the Juno Awards in April, plus is home to the popular Sled Island festival. On top of that, this January marked the 30th anniversary of its international arts festival, High Performance Rodeo, held January 7-30. In honor of the past 30 years of music history, the city has selected 30 tunes that best represent that history.
Among those that made the play list are Local 1000 (Nongeographic) member James Keelaghan’s “Hillcrest Mine” (1989) and Local 547 (Calgary, AB) members Kris Demeanor’s “I have Seen the Future” (2007) and Anne Loree/Jann Arden’s “Insensitive” (1994).