Union Organizing Campaign Heats Up at Los Angeles Film School

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Truthout

by: Seth Sandronsky

Concerns over faculty pay, benefits and students' classes have propelled a union organizing drive at the private Los Angeles Film School, where management is not pleased that a majority of staff want to join the California Federation of Teachers (CFT), AFL-CIO.

Some faculty members contacted the CFT on February 1, said Tema L. Staig, who teaches at the Los Angeles Film School. A few days later, about 65 percent of the 125-member faculty signed cards to authorize CFT representation, according to Peter Nguyen of the CFT.

Next, the CFT submitted the signed authorization cards to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency that oversees union election campaigns. Recently, the CFT finished four days of hearings with the NLRB to determine the parameters of the new proposed collective bargaining unit, Nguyen said.

Allegedly, Los Angeles Film School, management fired one instructor, Brandii Grace, and disciplined another, Celina Reising, for being involved in the union campaign to win collective bargaining representation with the CFT. Management fired Grace one week after promoting from course director of computer game design to chair of the department at the Los Angeles Film School, according to Nguyen and Staig.


Read more: http://www.truthout.org/union-organizing-campaign-heats-up-los-angeles-film-school58247

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(Photos: Celina Reising)

[SocialistLez]

1. I wish I felt free enough

to try to join a union at my job.

When I worked at Wal-Mart, I wanted to try to start one up SO bad.

Once I'm out of college, I want to try to help Wal-Mart workers organize.

[No Elephants]

7. EFCA!

If you've never seen Norma Rae, try to get your hands on a copy. Video Store, public library, Netflix, whatever.

[unionwheels]

8. A new union organizing tool, web based, free and anonymous

This is the reason why we just launched UnionWheels --- to help workers start a conversation about organizing and protect privacy and anonymity. I think it would be very helpful to reveal just how many people want a union at work -- I believe that most people would like to have a union job. Please take a minute to check it out. I don't think this has been done before, and I feel it could really help unorganized workers who want a union.

[earcandle]

2. Congrats on this organizing. Maybe the creative kids are catching on to intelligent moves that help

[2Design]

3. Good for them - we need world wide unions n/t

[Proletariatprincess]

4. Sooo....management is not pleased that the majority of workers want to join a union....

When are they ever pleased? Talk about stating the obvious, and yet still some workers can be persuaded against their own interest based just on that.
This would be a simple thing if the EFCA was in effect. 65% want a union? done and done. Instead, now we will see a long long battle of captive meetings chaired by union busters determined to intimidate workers from voting in their own best interests. If that fails, they will lay off union activists or fire them on bogus charges so that only pliable agreeable employees who love the boss and hate the union will remain on the payroll. Or, the school could just close down entirely to avoid unionization. Walmart sure would...

[Lex87]

5. Re: Union Organizing Campaign Heats Up at Los Angeles Film School

Allegedly, Los Angeles Film School, management fired one instructor, Brandii Grace, and disciplined another, Celina Reising, for being involved in the union campaign to win collective bargaining representation with the CFT. Management fired Grace one week after promoting from course director of computer game design to chair of the department at the Los Angeles Film School, according to Nguyen and Staig.

This is a really frustrating statement! I have an uncle who just went from a union shop to try his hand with a big http://www.datasource.net/">Los Angeles IT consulting company and he misses the union, but wouldn't dream of organizing anything because this sort of thing goes unchecked!

Even in Cambodia, in late 2009 thousands of poor garment workers were willing to strike over fired union reps, yet we don't get that excited when we see it happen here?

Crazy..

[defendandprotect]

6. K/R