Tag Archives: recent news

Recent News

Comcast Discrimination Lawsuit Reopened

According to Variety, A federal judge has reopened a $20 billion racial bias case filed against Comcast and Time Warner Cable by Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios Networks, which claims that Comcast shut out African-American owned channels from its lineups. Allen, who says he will file an amended complaint with “greater detail and greater clarity,” now has until September 21. The National Association of African American Owned Media is a co-plaintiff in the suit.

First filed in February, Allen’s suit also names as defendants the NAACP, the National Urban League, Al Sharpton, the National Action Network, as well as Meredith Attwell Baker, a former Comcast executive and FCC commissioner. The suit claims that, in getting approval for the 2011 acquisition of NBC Universal, Comcast entered into “sham” memorandums of understanding with civil rights groups to cover up its discriminatory business practices.

US District Judge Terry Hatter had dismissed the lawsuit without prejudice earlier this month, concluding that the plaintiffs had “failed to allege a plausible claim for relief,” but then reopened it last week. The burden is on the plaintiffs to overcome Hatter’s original objections. Comcast previously called the suit “frivolous,” while Sharpton said it is without basis.

 

Recent News

Brazilian Court Makes McDonald’s Accountable

McDonald’s workers, labor leaders, and elected officials from five continents testified before a Brazilian Senate committee last week. The hearing comes as the fight for $15 per hour grows internationally. The workers, including one from Chicago, spoke about the companies labor practices.

Brazilian Senator Paulo Paim, who spearheaded the Senate hearing and chairs the Brazilian Senate’s Human Rights and Participative Legislation Committee said in a statement: “McDonald’s is one of the most recognized brands around the world, and this hearing makes clear that its corrosive business model spans the globe as well. Brazil can be the country that leads the way in holding this company accountable. Let this hearing mark a moment where governments around the world join together to demand that global companies like McDonald’s do better by workers and the public as a whole.”

Recent News

Google Workers Vote to Unionize

According to Fortune, workers at Google Shopping Express have joined the growing number of Silicon Valley workers eager to unionize. The 151 workers voted to join a local chapter of the Teamsters union. They say that they face poor working conditions—lack of ventilation, low wages, poor benefits, and damaged equipment. They are also currently being hired by an outside staffing agency that makes them sign contracts that limit them to two years working with the company.

The local they wish to join, Teamsters Local 853 (San Leandro, CA) already represents some workers at other high tech companies among them Facebook, Apple, and Yahoo, which have a habit of showering their engineers and executives with high salaries and other perks, while low ranking workers enjoy virtually no benefits.

Recent News

Worker Summit Set for October in Toronto

The Industrial Workers of the World’s Toronto General Membership Branch will host the Working For Each Other, Working For Ourselves: A Revolutionary Worker-Organizer Summit, October 3-4. The event will gather grassroots workplace organizers from around North America. The event is open to the public, but anyone interested in attending must register by September 7. For more information and to register visit:

http://workingforeachother.org/participate/registration/.

Recent News

Social Security Turns 80

The US Social Security program turned 80 years old August 14. In honor of the occasion AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka remarked, “For those working for a better life, Social Security is an important family income and disability protection program and the cornerstone of our retirement security. The program has worked efficiently for 80 years, even though opponents have tried to dismantle, cut, privatize, or undermine the program since the day it was signed into law. They have created crises when none existed and demanded ‘reforms’ that make no sense. But Americans understand that Social Security is a solution not a problem, and now is the time to strengthen and expand it for all generations of working families.”

Recent News

Worker Voice Summit Scheduled for October

The White House has announced its summit on worker issues, the Worker Voice Summit, will be held October 7. The summit will include a discussion of the value of collective bargaining and how to encourage collective bargaining. It will bring attention to new and innovative ways that workers are coming together to have a voice in their workplaces and engaging employers in meaningful partnerships.

“There’s an inverse relationship between union membership and the size of the cap between rich and poor,” says Labor Secretary Thomas Perez. “As the number of workers choosing to be represented by unions increased in the middle of the 20th century, the share of income going to the wealthiest 10% declined and prosperity was broadly shared. But as union membership has steadily fallen in recent decades, the share of income going to the top 10% has steadily climbed.”

Union membership could mean an extra $200 per week for workers, he adds.

Recent News

Yamaha Honors Young Musicians

Each year Yamaha Corporation’s Young Artist Services and Band and Orchestra Division honor and encourage young musicians through the Yamaha Young Performing Artists (YYPA) Competition. Competitors submit recordings and supporting material, which are evaluated by a panel of Yamaha performing artists and celebrity musicians. Nine winners receive an all-expense paid trip to YYPA Celebration Weekend. Held June 20-23 this year, the weekend included rehearsals, master classes, social events, and workshops focused on how to establish and maintain a career in music. It culminated with a concert at Emens Auditorium, Ball State University, which kicked-off Yamaha’s Music for All Summer Symposium.

This year’s YYPA winners include: Michael Alampi (flute) Glen Ridge, New Jersey; Graeme Johnson (clarinet) Austin, Texas; Stuart Englehart (bassoon) Olmsted Falls, Ohio; Patrick Bartley, Jr., (saxophone) Hollywood, Florida; Braden Waddell (trumpet) Graham, Washington; Zachary Grass (tuba) Waynesboro, Pennsylvania; Misaki Nakamichi (drum set) Osaka, Japan; Kyle Price (cello) Worthington, Ohio; and Jae Young Kim (piano) Seoul, South Korea.

The YYPA Program underscores Yamaha’s commitment to music education and recognizes exceptional emerging jazz, classical, and contemporary musicians. This year’s featured artist was saxophonist, composer, and educator Jeff Coffin. The three-time Grammy winner and bandleader presents music clinics nationwide. Many past YYPA winners have gone on to successful careers in the music industry, including Local 77 (Philadelphia, PA) member and The Philadelphia Orchestra principal clarinet Ricardo Morales, as well as Local 33 (Tucson, AZ) member and Tucson Symphony Orchestra principal trumpet Conrad Jones.

 

Recent News

Musical Frisson: The Science Behind Musical Arousal

Wesleyan University psychologist Psyche Loui and her student Luke Harrison set out to explain the phenomenon of “skin orgasms,” or frisson, in music listeners and musicians. One 1991 study found that about half of professional musicians and nonmusicians experienced shivers down the spine, trembling, flushing and sweating, and even sexual arousal in response to favorite pieces of music. The phenomenon, which also explains the altruism and cohesion that develops between individuals who make music together, is described in a BBC article by David Robson.

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Recent News

NPR Drops Out of MIC Coalition

When MIC (music.innovation.consumers) was founded earlier this year it billed itself as a coalition that advocates for a future music marketplace that is transparent, efficient, and sustainable, however early members have dropped out noting that it is less concerned about protecting the music economy than it is reducing payments to artists. Amazon quickly withdrew from the coalition in June citing its alleged focus on music pricing. This month NPR also pulled out giving no exact reason.

On hearing the news, performance rights organization SoundExchange issued a statement that read, in part:

Just a month after launch, the MIC Coalition lost yet another member today when NPR joined Amazon in rejecting the organization’s anti-artist agenda and dropping out of the MIC Coalition. SoundExchange applauds NPR for taking this stand for the future of music and artists everywhere. We look forward to continuing our long-standing, positive collaboration with NPR. Now, more than ever, it is vital that music creators and music lovers everywhere stand together to fight for the future of music.

The AFM and SoundExchange ask musicians to please write your member of Congress and ask them to support the Fair Play Fair Pay Act to ensure all artists are paid every time their music is played, on every platform. Visit: http://musicfirst-coalition.rallycongress.com/17671/support-fair-play-fair-pay-act/.

Recent News

‘Happy Birthday’ Still Not Free

Some thought that Wednesday would bring a close to the battle over whether Warner/Chappell would retain the rights to “Happy Birthday.” Filmmakers working on a documentary about the song discovered new evidence that may prove that the song should be in the public domain. The “smoking gun” is in the form of a children’s book of songs from Warner/Chappell’s own digital library. The blurry 1927 edition of The Everyday Song Book contained the lyrics without a copyright notice and the copyright was not filed until 1935. The filmmakers say that the original composers of the song, Patty Smith Hill and Mildred Hill, had surrendered the song to the public.

Though July 29 hearing took a comprehensive look at ownership of the song, the judge hadn’t had time to review the new evidence and the final decision was postponed once again. Ownership of the tune brings in about $2 million to Warner/Chappell each year. If able to prove the tune was dedicated to the public years before the copyright registration, the filmmakers and others will no longer have to pay to use the song.