This holiday week hasn’t been a quiet one for labor relations professionals. Some legislation worth watching dropped, and unions tainted the world of breezy summer reads. The Teamsters are also causing as much disruption as possible, including within the film industry. The Sean O’Brien-helmed union previously expressed solidarity with WGA during the 2022 Hollywood writers’ strike, and for this story, we’re headed into the heartland.
A Teamsters local representing film industry workers has been criticized in Oklahoma in several ways. First, a local TV station recently reported the filing of 60 grievances against the union by a film transport worker and her colleagues who worked on high-profile productions, including Twisters and Reservation Dogs. This worker further alleges that she was blacklisted from future film industry work after speaking out against Local 886’s hiring practices and Department of Transportation violations.
The Oklahoma locals’ woes also lead straight into corruption. An industry trade publication now reports that Hollywood-based Local 399, which is fronted by Lindsay Dougherty, is attempting damage control by absorbing about 100 Local 886 members after a damning audit revealed widespread cookie-jar theft by the local’s officers. To underscore the panic within, O’Brien declared an emergency trusteeship due to “a pattern of systematic errors, omissions, and oversight that is harmful to both the membership and the International Union.” The no-nos included unapproved staff raises and “check-signing irregularities, including pre-signed checks, checks with one signature, and improper signature stamps.”
In other words, the heat is on this deep-pocketed union as we enter the so-called dog days of summer. Additionally, the Teamsters are striking against companies in several other industries:
- The Breakthru Beverage drivers’ strike in Florida, which has been ongoing for two weeks, has now extended to several more states, including Arizona, Illinois, and Pennsylvania. The alcohol wholesale distributor’s routes are officially disrupted for the summer party season.
- Tyson Foods and the Teamsters averted a strike with a tentative deal after workers overwhelmingly authorized a walkout against the company’s largest beef-processing plant in Amarillo, Texas.
Is that all? Nope. In further news to watch, the Teamsters are lobbying hard on AI-related legislation on both the state and federal fronts. Sean O’Brien pushed back against the federal reconciliation bill over “a ban on all U.S. states from regulating AI or automation” in multiple contexts, including autonomous vehicles (AVs), specifically semi-trucks. That bill just passed the U.S. Senate, and it’s headed back to the House for more debate. And in California, a Teamsters-lobbied bill, AB33, passed the state Assembly and would require AVs to have a human operator onboard. How these pieces of legislation could coexist is anybody’s guess, but you can bet that O’Brien will soon have more to say on the subject.
While we wait for that bluster to arrive, stay cool out there!