Hollywood's crew member union reached a tenative deal with studios, avoiding an industry-crippling strike.
Members have pushed for longer rest breaks and higher wages for lower-paid crafts, amid outrage over difficult working conditions.
Had they pursued a strike, some members would have stopped working on sets starting Monday.
Negotiators for the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) have settled on a deal to avert a potential industry-crippling workers' strike.
The union announced the agreement Saturday evening. IATSE released a statement saying the agreement included provisions such as a living wage for the lowest-paid earners, daily rest periods of 10 hours, weekend rest periods of 54 hours, and newly adopted diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
The unions entered virtual marathon meetings late on Friday, according to Variety, with AMPTP President Carol Lombardini addressing details surrounding problematic working conditions in the industry. Lombardini and Matt Loeb, IATSE president, came to an agreement on multiple fronts, understanding the repercussions a crew member strike would have on the industry as it recovers from COVID-19.
Industry sources also told Variety that Walt Disney Television chief Peter Rice was among those present at the meeting who helped bridge the gap between the two parties.
IATSE union members have pushed longer rest breaks and higher wages for lower-paid crafts, after multiple accounts of dangerous working conditions spread throughout social media, sparking support from the industry's actors, directors, and writers, among others.
Had IATSE pursued a strike, members of the crew member union would have stopped working on numerous sets, including some big-name productions, starting Monday. Shows like the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and SNL, daytime soaps like Days of Our Lives, and scripted shows like Grey's Anatomy and Law and Order: SVU would have gone= without editors, lighting crews, and costumers. In the longer term, a strike could have delayed streaming hits like Bridgerton and Ted Lasso, and bigger budget films like Marvel Studios blockbusters.
Ninety-eight percent of IATSE members voted to authorize a strike in October. The IATSE and AMPTP resumed bargaining negotiations last week after the Loeb announced the former would go on strike unless the parties could reach a deal by the weekend. Negotiations have gone on since July, with the threat of an impending strike hanging overhead.
The state announced a new $36 million program to help families pay bills, on Friday.
Arizona will provide $36 million to help families with utility bills, the Arizona Department of Economic Security announced on Friday.
"The team at the Arizona Department of Economic Security continues to find new and innovative ways to support Arizonans lifting themselves out of financial challenges," Gov. Doug Ducey said in the announcement.
The announcement comes as a two-year moratorium on service cutoffs expired, The Arizona-Republic reported.
The Arizona-Republic reported that in June 2019, an emergency rule passed by states regulators prevented utility companies from shutting off services for people who missed bills. The emergency rule came after a 72-year-old woman died after her power was shut off.
The pilot program will work with Arizona Public Service Co., the Salt River Project, UniSource Energy Services, Tucson Electric Power, and Southwest Gas.
The announcement said the funding would be directly applied to customers' accounts once they're deemed eligible for the program.
DES said it plans to also expand the program to all utility programs following this pilot program.
"Public-private partnerships like this are integral to ensuring families have access to the resources they need," DES Director Michael Wisehart said in the announcement. "With the utility companies' collaboration, we will be able to distribute assistance to help customers keep their lights on and their accounts current. We are grateful for their partnership in supporting Arizona families."
The Arizona-Republic reported that the funds for the program are coming from the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, which was passed by Congress last December.
The state has rolled out several support programs during the pandemic including a rental assistance program.
However, earlier this month, a top official in President Joe Biden's administration warned Ducey that millions in federal relief funds could be in jeopardy because of two anti-mask education programs, Politico reported.
Deputy Treasury Secretary Adewale Adeyemo said he was concerned the programs "undermine evidence-based efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19," and has given Ducey 30 days to explain how Arizona will "remediate the issues" before facing consequences including losing funding.
Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Gov. Ron DeSantis has pledged to fight the Biden administration over federal vaccine mandates.
"I am offended that a police officer could potentially lose their job," he said on Thursday.
DeSantis has opposed broad vaccine requirements and mask mandates in K-12 public schools.
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a vocal opponent of COVID-19 vaccine mandates, on Thursday said that the state will fight the federal government in court over legislation regarding such requirements.
DeSantis, a potential 2024 presidential candidate, has spoken out forcefully against vaccination rules placed on employers, and last month said that President Joe Biden's vaccine mandate was a violation of Florida law.
"Let's not have Biden come in and effectively take away - threaten to take away - the jobs of people who have been working hard throughout this entire pandemic," DeSantis said during a news conference this week. "I am offended that a police officer could potentially lose their job."
"I just think it's fundamentally wrong to be taking people's jobs away, particularly given the situations that we see ourselves facing with the economy," he added.
The rule from the federal government mandates that employers with over 100 workers must require vaccination or conduct weekly testing, which would affect about 80 million Americans. The broader mandate would also affect about 17 million healthcare workers who are employed by hospitals that accept Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, along with federal employees and contractors.
Even Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, who has traveled throughout his conservative in an effort to boost the vaccine, said that Biden's decision to enact a federal mandate was not helpful to increasing inoculation levels among the public.
"I support businesses being able to require vaccination, but it's their own independent choice for their workplace," he said last month. "But to have the federal mandate will be counterproductive. It's going to increase resistance. We're going to grow our vaccinations whether you have this or not."
Ladapo, who opposes mask mandates and feels that COVID-19 vaccines are "nothing special," last year boosted the use of the drug hydroxychloroquine to fight the coronavirus. The World Health Organization earlier this year said that hydroxychloroquine is not an effective form of treatment for COVID-19.
Recently, the Florida Department of Health leveled a $3.57 million fine against Leon County, which encompasses the state capital of Tallahassee, after the jurisdiction mandated that hundreds of workers receive the vaccine.
The county terminated the employment of 14 workers who chose not to receive the vaccine, according to The Tallahassee Democrat, and local officials are prepared to defend the requirement in court.
A recent study conducted by the French government-backed scientific organization Epi-Phare, which looked at nearly 23 million individuals, found that vaccines reduced the risk of contracting a severe case of COVID-19 by at least 90% among individuals 50 years old or older.
As Insider's Eliza Relman previously reported, medical professionals as well as public health and legal experts, have praised vaccine and testing mandates as effective and constitutional tools to promote public health -- especially as the unvaccinated pose a threat to others' health and safety.
DeSantis said that the state's lawsuits against the federal mandates will be filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Florida, which this past summer experienced a surge in new COVID-19 infections fueled by the highly infectious Delta variant, has seen over 57,000 of its residents succumb to the virus since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the latest data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
A TikTok showing an unruly United Airlines passenger on a flight to Los Angeles went viral this week.
The video shows a man threatening staff and other passengers after refusing to get off the phone and put on his mask.
The video is one incident in a larger trend of uncontrollable customers on flights.
A TikTok video showing an outburst from an unruly and maskless United Airlines passenger after he was asked to turn off his phone has become the latest viral post in a growing trend of disorderly travelers.
The video shows an unidentified man ripping off his mask and screaming at other passengers while threatening to find the personal information of the flight crew. The incident took place on a flight to Los Angeles when the man reportedly refused to turn his cell phone off before the flight, according to Travel Noire.
When another passenger attempted to intervene to help calm the man down, the video shows the maskless man saying "mind your business, because I'll break your neck." Police later arrived on the scene to escort the man off the flight.
The original video, posted by user @starcadearcade, has over 6.4 million views on the platform and is one of a smattering of recent viral videos. Two other videos of the incident were also posted, collectively garnering nearly 4 million views on TikTok.
Federal law currently requires that all passengers wear a face mask that fully covers their mouth and nose during the entirety of the flight to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Passengers that do not follow these protocols "may be refused transport, be subject to fines, and could also lose their travel privileges on future United flights," according to the United website.
United Airlines did not immediately respond to Insider's request to comment.
In recent months, airline crew members have reported a rising number of disruptive incidents, including travelers who have hit, yelled at, and shoved staff members. Several of these moments have been captured on video and circulated online, sparking larger conversations about travel safety and COVID-19 precautions.
Last month, Hawaiian Airlines had to divert two flights within a 12-hour span after one customer assaulted a flight attendant and another refused to wear a mask, Insider reported. On a JetBlue flight in September, a passenger choked a female flight attendant with his necktie and begged to be shot.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, there have been nearly 4,000 reports of unruly behavior and more than 2,800 cases of passengers refusing to wear masks in 2021. In a statement in August, the organization said it has proposed more than $1 million in fines against passengers this year.
Transportation Security Administration workers previously told Insider that the increase in disorderly airline passengers has made them want to quit their jobs.
"Me and many of my coworkers really have always felt like we were the bastard children of the federal government," a Baltimore screener, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of jeopardizing his job, told Insider's Nicole Guadiano. "For many, many of us, it's really just like, okay, one day closer to retirement."
Former UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock was to join the UN to work on African economic recovery.
But three days after the announcement, the UN has withdrawn their offer.
No explanation was given as to why.
Former UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock's new role at the UN has been withdrawn three days after it was announced.
Hancock, who resigned from his ministerial role after a public scandal when he was caught on CCTV having an affair with one of his aides, was announced to have been offered a role with the UN helping African economies recover from COVID-19.
However, just 72 hours after the announcement, the UN said that the offer of this role had been withdrawn.
Speaking to Pass Blue, a news suite specializing in UN affairs, UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said: "Mr. Hancock's appointment by the UN Economic Commission for Africa is not being taken forward. ECA has advised him of the matter."
No explanation has yet been given for why the offer was rescinded.
Hancock's new role was to be "UN special representative on financial innovation and climate change for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa."
It was quickly removed from his Twitter bio, but not his LinkedIn description.
The appointment was controversial, coming on the day that a report by MPs said the government's response to the COVID-19 was the worst public health failure ever.
The campaign group Global Justice Now, which is working on getting worldwide provisions of the COVID-19 vaccines, welcomed the news.
Nick Dearden, the director of the organization, told the BBC: "If Matt Hancock wants to help African countries recover from the pandemic, he should lobby the prime minister to back a patent waiver on COVID-19 vaccines.
"If he'd done that when he was in government, tens of millions more people could already have been vaccinated.
"The last thing the African continent needs is a failed British politician. This isn't the 19th century."
In this Thursday, April 9, 2020, file photo, the Intensive Care unit at the St. Vincent Medical Center building in Los Angeles is viewed.
AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes
Thousands of healthcare workers in California have gone on strike or plan to strike, CalMatters reported.
They're striking over burnout and continued staffing shortages fueled by the coronavirus pandemic.
About a third of California hospitals reported "critical staffing shortages" to the federal government last week.
Thousands of healthcare workers in California have gone on strike or plan to strike over continued "critical staffing shortages" at nearly a third of the hospitals in the state.
According to a report from CalMatters, workers at more than two dozen hospitals in California went on strike at some point over the past four months. These workers included engineers, respiratory therapists, nurses, midwives, physical therapists, technicians, janitorial staff, according to the report.
Around a third of hospitals in the state this week reported "critical staffing shortages" to the US Department of Health and Human Services, according to the report. The shortages come amid increased patient demand due to the coronavirus pandemic, healthcare workers' early retirement over the past year, and other stresses put on the system by the pandemic, CalMatters reported.
Unions that represent healthcare workers told the outlet that the shortages existed before the COVID-19 outbreak nearly two years ago, but said the pressure of the pandemic has pushed the staffing issues to new levels. In addition to concerns over staffing, strikes have also been fueled by disagreements regarding pay, according to the report.
The unions say traveling healthcare staff brought into the state to make up for the shortages get paid more than the full-time staff at the understaffed hospitals.
Members of the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals recently voted to approve a strike against Kaiser Permanente, CalMatters reported. If negotiations continue to stall between Kaiser Permanente and UNAC/UHCP, 24,000 workers at facilities in over a dozen California cities would strike, according to the report.
The union wants more efforts made to retain staff and address burnout among staff, according to the report. The union says 72% of its members experienced anxiety and burnout and around 45% reported insomnia and depression. About three quarters said hospital staffing was their primary concern, CalMatters reported.
Kaiser has urged employees to avoid a walk out.
"We ask that our employees reject a call to walk away from the patients who need them," Kaiser spokesperson Marc Brown told the Washington Post. "Our priority is to continue to provide our members with high-quality, safe care. In the event of any kind of work stoppage, our facilities will be staffed by our physicians along with trained and experienced managers and contingency staff."
The problems fueling the tensions in California aren't unique to the state. The Wyoming News Exchange reported Saturday that 12 hospitals in the state this week reported a critical staffing shortage to the federal government. Four hospitals in the state resorted to crisis standards of care due to shortages, according to the report.
As Insider previously reported, burnout, poor working conditions, and job dissatisfaction have enabled the ongoing nationwide shortage of healthcare workers. A recent study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing found that hospitals in New York City were understaffed as early as December 2019, months before the city became the US epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The stress of working in a COVID ICU, and all the death that I've had to see, altogether, it has really set me back; I'm often very anxious, and angry," Sarah Chan, a registered nurse at St. Joseph's Hospital in New York, told Insider's Allana Akhtar in September. "So much death weighs heavy on me."
Mark Tolbert, 47, is a food scientist at Perdue helping design new products.
He oversees the company's innovation facility and projects and his team of 10.
This is his career story and what his job is like, as told to freelancer Perri Ormont Blumberg.
This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Mark Tolbert, a 47-year-old senior innovation center facilities manager at Perdue Foods from Salisbury, Maryland, about his job. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I grew up in southwestern Virginia on a beef cattle farm. Working on the farm was a daily job, and I found that I'm naturally pretty mechanically inclined, whether repairing things or troubleshooting problems.
Before and during college, I worked at a veterinarian clinic, a dairy farm, a grocery store, and even as a manager of a slaughter operation. I attended Virginia Tech for college, where I double-majored in animal science and food science.
I took classes in meat science, which is how I got my first job out of college in the early '90s managing a pilot plant at Central Soya, a soy processing company that incorporated soy into meat products. After three years, I went back to school for a master's degree in meat science.
From there, I started working for Campbell Soup Company, with leading roles across various brands including Chunky Soup and SpaghettiO's. In the last two years at Campbell's, I ran quality control for those brands, which was a very hands-on role. I also managed a team within the ingredients group at Campbell's. We worked on one project where we had over 700 ingredients and had to reduce the ingredients by 40%. In 2015, I started working at Perdue Farms.
I'm accountable for everything within the boundaries of the 5.14-acre property
The Perdue innovation center.
Perdue
I'm even responsible for a few things outside it, like the railroad tracks everyone crosses on the way to our facility. I'm responsible for every blade of grass, all the lightbulbs, and everything in between.
Upon accepting the role, I knew I would quickly expand it into something much bigger, as my curiosity wouldn't allow me to settle into the more narrow job description for long. I manage research and development (R&D) projects like developing turkey- and drumstick-shaped nuggets in line with Thanksgiving. Our nuggets run through equipment I'm very familiar with, so I helped develop the mold plates that contain the shape of the nugget.
I also was involved with the development of a blend of Perdue chicken with vegetables. My previous experience at Campbell's was essential since I had extensive experience working with frozen vegetables, something people generally are not as familiar with at a meat company.
During my first hour on the premises, I walk through the facility, saying hello to each of my 10 team members
I start to gauge the morale of the group and figure out what might have to be done that day. On my own time, I'll sometimes reread books like "The Ideal Team Player" by Patrick Lencioni and "Lincoln on Leadership" by Donald T. Phillips to refresh my memory on being a leader. I focus on everyone being a team player, which includes being humble and hardworking.
I'll then check out the plant trials board, which lets me know what we need to work on. Typically, we average about two trials per day, and it can get quite busy managing that. Sometimes we might run a special new experimental product, and those days are always extra exciting.
There are always "tastings" or what we refer to as "product cuttings" in the days following our trials. Usually this will involve the R&D technologist leading the project along with representatives from sensory, sales, and marketing. Some product cuttings focus on flavor whereas others will look at technical data like shape, weight, breading adhesion, etc. New shapes often require two to three iterations to get them to perform as expected.
After that, I spend a little time seeing if anyone or any project needs extra attention. From there, I'm off to my projects.
I love the daily 'strangeness.' There really is something different every day, and I enjoy those challenges that give way to problem-solving.
A nugget plate.
Courtesy of Perdue
I even keep a count in my head as the day goes on of the ratio of challenges versus solutions. I aim to keep it at 1:1, but some days it might be more like 5:1.
In the same week at work, I can make breaded chicken nuggets (in any shape I choose to design) as well as pet treats, hot dogs, turkey, deli ham - the list goes on. In my previous roles and now here at Perdue, you'll find very few, if any, poultry and meat products in a grocery store that I haven't made.
Perdue Farms turned 100 in 2020. We were going to break a Guinness record for the largest serving of smoked chicken. The goal was going to be over 9,000 pounds. I had specified all the equipment, purchased an oven, and aligned donations of utilities and tractor trailers. Unfortunately, our plans were sidelined by COVID-19, but maybe we'll try again soon.
Do you have an interesting job and want to share your story with Insider? Email Lauryn Haas at lhaas@insider.com.
