PPOA Executive Director
wquint@ppoa.com
On Wednesday, August 30, PPOA will host our 22nd Annual Pre-Labor Day BBQ for all PPOA members and their significant others. This fantastic event will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Biscailuz Training Academy’s “grinder” area. A freshly grilled lunch with all the fixings will be served under the big top. To celebrate the exceptional labor services that have been selflessly provided by PPOA members to those who live and/or work in Los Angeles County, your lunch is free!
This annual PPOA tradition for over two decades is a significantly important reminder that since 1894, the nationwide holiday celebrated on the first Monday in September is Labor Day. PPOA holds its barbecue the Wednesday before Labor Day, and especially this year, it is evident more than ever that organized labor appears to be making a resurgence.
According to an August 2022 Gallup poll, 71% of Americans approve of labor unions, up from 64% prior to the pandemic and the highest Gallup has recorded since 1965. Labor observers have noticed a revived sense of activity and energy on the part of the labor movement, and as your read below, the strike wave in Los Angeles County and threats of strikes across America are top stories in the media.
If Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of summer, then Labor Day weekend is its end. Sandwiched between these two holidays in 2023 has been an unprecedented summer, although I am not referring to the extreme heatwaves sweeping across America. For organized labor unions, Los Angeles is ground zero in what has been labeled by observers of the working class as a “Hot Labor Summer.”
It is my sincere hope that as you are reading this that the 11,500 striking (May 2) union members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the 60,000 striking (July 14) union members of the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) have returned to their respective negotiation tables and hammered out tentative agreements. This is the first coordinated labor strike of Hollywood writers and actors in 63 years. The major labor issues for writers and actors are compensation from streaming services and the impact of the rising use of artificial intelligence (AI).
On July 2, a historic strike, the largest such labor action in the hotel industry in modern U.S. history, involves 15,000 union members (housekeepers, dishwashers, cooks, servers, bellmen and front desk agents) represented by Unite Here Local 11 at more than 60 properties in Los Angeles and Orange counties. These hotel workers have been walking off the job in “waves” of work stoppages that began on July 4. The major labor issue for the picketing hotel workers is that their pay has not kept pace with soaring housing costs. This inequity has resulted in many workers being displaced from communities near their workplaces and being forced into long commutes. Again, my same hope for Unite Here Local 11 is to get back to the negotiation table and reach a fair and equitable contract.
In early June, union dockworkers allegedly conducted two-day work actions at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach while negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement were occurring. Two weeks later, a tentative agreement was reached. In March, 30,000 Los Angeles Unified School District service workers represented by Local 99 of the Service Employees International Union began a three-day strike, which received national news coverage. The service workers were joined on the picket line by teachers, who are represented by the United Teachers Los Angeles union. This effort resulted in shutting down the nation’s second-largest school system. A tentative agreement was reached for the service workers in early April.
The Hot Labor Summer stretches beyond Los Angeles, and it appeared that the 340,000 United Parcel Service (UPS) workers represented by the Teamsters Union would be striking as their current five-year North America collective bargaining agreement expired on July 31. Contract negotiations stalled in early July over wages for part-time workers, who make up more than half of the unionized workforce at UPS. The Teamsters Union announced on July 25 that it had successfully negotiated acceptable pay raises for its members, averting what would have been one of the largest strikes in U.S. history. Teamster Union members from across the country will begin the ratification vote on the collective bargaining agreement in August.
On Monday, September 4, let’s not forget the importance of remembering that this holiday is a celebration that honors all unionized laborers, past and present, who, through solidarity and collaborative action, never swayed from their pursuit of the American dream. Happy Labor Day!