Source: VH1

There appears to be a bit of tension on the set of popular reality show, Love & Hip Hop New York between VH1 executives and nearly the show’s cast members.

According to TMZ, the entire cast was supposed to report to set on Tuesday to film next season’s trailer and only half of them showed up! Sources say the rest of the cast stayed home in an effort to protest their dissatisfaction with the way that recent contract negotiations went down. Word on the street is that some cast members want double what they made last season!

But wait, there’s more. The source also said that the cast members who did show up to film got upset when they learned of their co-stars’ decision to protest. Feeling that they were also entitled to contract revisions, they too decided to protest and stormed off of the set.

We hear that money isn’t the only issue, though. While some cast members are asking for more money, others are pissed at the manner in which they were portrayed on the show last season and want more control over the footage that gets aired. An insider says that emergency negotiation meetings are being held sometime this week. Supposedly, the displeased cast hopes that their demands will be met by the end of this week. If not, they plan to continue their protest until they get what they want.

Mona Scott-Young probably isn’t too pleased about all of this. VH1 has yet to comment on the speculations.

What do you think of this?

Black Friday 2011 shoppers. AP Photo/Matt Stamey/Staff photographer

Sales associates — on both a year-round and seasonal basis — at retailers across the country have gotten their marching orders for the big Black Friday shopping day. But some Walmart associates are thinking of marching all right… right out of the store to strike against the company over opening hours that will interrupt their Thanksgiving holiday.

Walmart stores are scheduled to open at 8pm Thanksgiving evening. One million workers are meant to be on the floor. But staffers at 1,000 locations across the country are planning a work stoppage that could start even before Friday.

As ABCNews.com notes, other retailers including Best Buy and Target have pushed up their Black Friday opening hours, giving customers the option to shop basically throughout Thanksgiving Day. And some associates are excited to be part of the day. “We respect the rights of our associates to express their views but if they are scheduled to work, we expect them to show up and do their job,” Kory Lundberg, director of National Media Relations for Walmart told the website in an email.

This isn’t a new argument, but rather one that was also waged last year with many people signing online petitions against the Thursday start to Black Friday. “What seems to really getting folks up in arms, however, is the way that commercialism is creeping into the once-sacrosanct holiday of Thanksgiving, as it becomes commonplace for stores to open with deals aplenty on Thanksgiving night,” writes TIME magazine.

Looking back at one of last year’s petitions, the magazine further reports, “The petition states that it is ‘inhumane and inconsiderate’ to ask employees to work go into work after their holiday dinner and then work through the night into Black Friday.” Other petitions directed at Walmart have argued that the working hours put a strain on and “hurt” families.

The article makes the point that stores wouldn’t open if there weren’t shoppers there to spend money. A valid point. But part of the reason that shoppers are there is because they want to make the most of the holidays, which includes gifts for everyone. And with these tough economic times, people will go to great lengths to save precious dollars any way they can. If that means getting to the shops earlier and earlier each year, so be it. It’s kind of chicken and egg. But we would be curious to find out if the same people show up every year for the doorbuster deals, or if these earlier hours are attracting even more people or leading to more sales. (Some local media are reporting that lines are already forming.)

But back to the headline. Walmart’s VP of communications made an appearance on CNN today and the reporter, Carol Costello, brought up the fact that Walmart pays some of its workers wages that are barely above the poverty level even as the net income for the retailer during the third quarter was $3.63 billion and as the wage gap in the US grows. Think Progress pulls the quote (emphasis theirs): 

Our average rate is about $12.40 an hour far a full time associate. We also offer comprehensive benefit packages as low as $17 a pay period, which is very affordable and we also pay quaterly bonuses, which is something that not a lot of retailers do…. And we know that they appreciate that, they also get a 10 percent discount card. So you have to factor in all of those things when you’re looking for how we’re helping associates.  

Kids head back to school after the end of the Chicago teachers strike. Image: AP Photo/M. Spencer Green

Students and teachers went back to class yesterday, ending a seven-day teachers strike that caught nationwide attention for the education and labor issues it brought to the fore. Now, both sides have to deal with the cost of the agreement that they’ve agreed to.

“Pay raises and hiring nearly 500 new teachers to implement the longer school day has a higher price tag — as high as $295 million — that some say could lead to higher property taxes,” reports NBC News in Chicago. There could be tax hikes on things like cigarettes. Teachers are getting a three percent raise in the first year and a two percent raise each of the two following years. There’s also an option for the fourth year.

The deal also calls for teacher evaluations that take standardized tests into account by 30 percent, a change to the “last in, first out” rule for layoffs and monitoring of class size. A more comprehensive list is available here, though the full contract hasn’t been released.

However, BusinessWeek reports that there could be trouble in the not-so-distant future.

“Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Public Schools system he runs face a projected $1 billion deficit next year and the prospect of scores of school closings. The union peace they obtained may be short-lived because other pressures — including at least $338 million in pension payments due in 2014 — are squeezing the budget,” this article says.

In other words, the overarching financial issues plaguing the city and the public education system could encroach on any agreement the two sides have come to. This is important when you think of the financial state of cities and public education systems across the country. Nationwide, cities large and small are faced with economic crunches that threaten all kinds of local processes, like pensions. Moreover, the move towards charter schools and other educational alternatives is changing the face of public education.

And one expert, Robert Bruno, professor of labor and employment relations at the University of Illinois at Chicago, tells The Chicago Tribune that it’s a step in the direction towards the education reform that teacher’s support.

“What the CTU managed to do is take their philosophy of what schools should look like into the public square,” he said.

Separately, we were curious to learn more about Karen Lewis, the Chicago Teachers Union president who took on Mayor Emanuel. Turns out she’s a 59-year-old Chicago public school grad who went on to Dartmouth and became a chemistry teacher. She’s led the CTU for two years and has proven to be a worthy adversary to the Mayor and an excellent adovcate for teachers. To learn more about her, read this story.
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Image: AP Photo/Sitthixay Ditthavong

As we move into the fifth day of the strike involving Chicago’s public school teachers, an end may be in sight. Chicago Public Schools and the city’s teachers union say they have some “number crunching” to do, but so much progress has been made that teachers and students could be back in classrooms on Monday. The Chicago Tribune reports that the union has asked supporters to come out for a final protest tomorrow at noon.

There is a proposal for resolving the big issue — how teachers will be evaluated — that will put a tiered system in place, in addition to weighing student test scores. Those exam results will count for 30 to 35 percent of the evaluation process with student surveys and principal observations also put into consideration. Tenured teachers won’t be fired during the first year as the new system works itself out. All teachers will be given a chance to improve if they receive an unsatisfactory evaluation.

As we reported the other day, the strike has wide-reaching implications for the black community. The number of minority teachers in Chicago has dropped. Parents and students have been inconvenienced by the strike, with some parents having to change their work schedules or pay for other child care arrangements. There was concern that the relationship between President Obama and unions could be negatively impacted if the strike dragged on. And the questions of education reform came to the forefront.

This resolution will by no means resolve the public education issues that the country faces. But trying a new system could put us one step closer to improving a system that’s responsible for educating millions of kids, our next generation of leaders and thinkers.

*Update: A tentative deal has been reached.

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(Chicago News Cooperative) — After weeks in which the Chicago Teachers Union seemed to be preparing to strike, Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis on Tuesday told the Chicago News Cooperative the union will work the entire school year without a walkout.  Under pressure from Mayor Rahm Emanuel over extending the school day and year, the CTU had seemed ready to push back. A slide presentation at a membership meeting last week reviewed the state-mandated timetable for a strike and concluded by exhorting members to be prepared to strike.  But now Lewis, who raised the possibility of a strike as recently as last week, is backing off. In an interview,she said the union will not open its contract with Chicago Public Schools and will continue working at least until the contract expires in June–after the school year ends.  Asked if the union would reopen its contract or even strike, Lewis had a simple response: “Nope,” she said. “Everybody has discussed that but us,” she added.

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