By Borys Kit and Kim Masters - 8/13/10

But several huge questions hover over "Battleship," which begins filming in 15 days in Hawaii, that simply didn't apply to other big-ticket movies. In "Battleship," Universal has a director, Peter Berg, with some experience in action films, but he's not a brand name in the genre. And the concept is based on a board game that has sold more than 100 million units and raked in $1 billion-plus. This comes at a time when some studio execs are questioning whether the public is tiring of the presold concepts to which Hollywood has been clinging.

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By Tula Connell, AFL-CIO blog - 8/13/10

Looks like we got the attention of Stuart Varney at Fox News. After we challenged as grossly false his assault on the ability of union workers to produce high-tech products, Fox this morning ran a list of the "awesome" things unions build.

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By James Parks, AFL-CIO blog - 8/13/10

Republicans on Capitol Hill want to keep the Bush-era tax cuts for the rich. Never mind the nation lost nearly 8 million jobs under the Bush administration when the tax breaks were in place.

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By James Parks, AFL-CIO blog - 8/13/10

In the political showdown between Wall Street and Main Street, California is a key battleground. With the third highest jobless rate in the country and a towering budget deficit, California needs leaders who can create and save jobs, not just spout  "more of the same corporate bull," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told a crowd of thousands at a mass jobs rally in Los Angeles today.

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By Steve Smith, CalLaborFed - 8/12/10

Workers and community allies have been out in force protesting at a number of her recent appearances, she continues to get slammed from both the left and the right for her hypocrisy on immigration and other issues, top economists shredded her economic plan and polls show she's continuing to lose support, even though she's up on the air with wall-to-wall TV ads.

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By Arizona's AFL-CIO - 8/11/10

Today the Republican leadership in the Arizona Legislature pushed through the anti-union measure to voters, despite failing to address pressing needs like crowded classrooms and a weak job market. The 180,000 strong labor movement in Arizona will fight on against this deceptive attempt by a corporate front group to hijack the referendum process.

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By Carl DiOrio, THR - 8/5/10

Hollywood's blue-collar workers are huddling up. IATSE and the Teamsters announced an agreement Thursday to forge a joint committee to identify common goals in Hollywood and work to achieve mutual progress for their respective locals. The pact will address organizing efforts, jurisdictional issues and communications between the unions.

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By WENN.com, 7/30/10

TV bosses behind Jimmy Fallon's talk show are facing allegations of sexual discrimination from a former employee who claims he was demoted and eventually dismissed because the presenter prefers working with women. Veteran stagehand Paul Tarascio spent 14 years working on Late Night With Conan O'Brien before Fallon took over the slot in 2009.

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THR - 8/04/2010

IATSE and the Teamsters announced an agreement Thursday to forge a joint committee to identify common goals in Hollywood and work to achieve mutual progress for their respective locals. The pact will address organizing efforts, jurisdictional issues and communications between the unions.

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THR - 7/26/2010

In a surprising reversal, Teamsters members agreed Sunday morning to the "last, best and final" offer from studios, averting a strike by Hollywood transportation workers and others. Teamsters head Leo Reed, in a standing-room-only membership meeting in Burbank, asked the members present to vote for the deal, conceding on a major wage point in exchange for relatively minor enhancements that were achieved in backchannel negotiations Saturday afternoon.

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Arizona’s AFL-CI - 7/30/10

Events honoring workers in Pheonix and Tucson…

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By Etan Vlessing, THR - 7/30/10

TORONTO – IATSE (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees) and Toronto theatre producer Mirvish Productions are headed back to the bargaining table under the cloud of a strike threat. Earlier this week, IATSE Local 822, representing mostly women in the wardrobe, hair and makeup departments at Mirvish's Toronto stage productions, overwhelmingly gave their union a strike vote.

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By Mike Hall, AFL-CIO blog- 7/28/2010

Just hours before Arizona’s controversial anti-immigrant law was to go into effect, a federal judge today blocked one of its most contentious provisions—the requirement that police stop and question anyone they have “reasonable suspicion” is undocumented.

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Arizona’s AFL-CIO- 7/20/2010

Finally, Arizona’s families will be getting the support to weather the recession that they deserve. As they stalled this vote for nearly two months, Senate Republicans caused needless suffering by denying 2 million families the resources to keep food on the table and pay for a roof over their heads.

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IATSE Ratchets Up Fight Against Digital Piracy

Union Post Legal Web Sites for Downloading

The IATSE is putting tremendous resources into fighting the growing threat of digital piracy. Recently, IATSE International President Matt Loeb sent a letter to each of the locals asking them to make a commitment to help shift public attitudes about digital piracy and the high cost to our members. The International posted links to listings of legal content download sites from the Motion Picture Association of America and the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association on the home page of its website.

These links are a great resource that we encourage all the members of IATSE District 2 to check out. If you have friends or family who regularly download media, forward this link to them so that they have a quick, reliable way of knowing if they are downloading legally, or if the content they are getting is stolen. Each of us needs to do our part in the fight against digital theft. We must all do our part to protect our jobs, benefits and our industry.