Members of the Screen Actors (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) overwhelmingly approved a new three-year contract covering theatrical and television production workers.

Today, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) took steps to enforce workers’ rights as guaranteed by U.S. law. The board advised the attorneys general of Arizona, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah that so-called secret ballot amendments to their state constitutions are pre-empted by the National Labor Relations Act, which offers workers two paths to choosing a union.

Every day across the country, millions of workers in low-wage jobs are being robbed of billions of dollars they are owed by their employers. A new video by Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ) shows how the practice of wage theft is a national epidemic no one is paying attention to.

Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday we celebrate this weekend, died fighting for the freedom of Memphis sanitation workers to form a union with AFSCME. For King, economic justice went hand in hand with civil rights and the right to join a union was critical to gaining economic justice.

Companies that do not allow union elections violate human rights, said Bob King, president of the UAW, which is talking with some foreign auto companies that have plants in the United States about a set of principles aimed at ensuring fair elections. Such principles are necessary, King said, because National Labor Relations Board procedures are outdated and allow companies to intimidate workers and spread misinformation. Transplant companies are foreign-owned companies that have plants in the United States.

The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) has brought union representation to a growing group of workers who do not fit the traditional union model: freelance writers and producers who work on nonfiction TV shows.

Jennifer Wright Dorr at Union Plus sends this latest news on the iPhone and AT&T.

The big tech news in the past few days is that Verizon will begin selling the much-sought-after Apple iPhone—at least for those with phone envy—in February. Previously, it was an AT&T exclusive.

The California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU) reached a tentative agreement with Kaiser Permanente today. The three-year contract includes more than 20 important professional and economic enhancements and, significantly, no reductions in patient care protections or economic or professional practice standards, according to the union.

The 1,300 Dane County, Wis., workers approved new contracts effective through 2014, and more news from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 1,300 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.

When workers decide they want to come together and form unions, it’s a well-documented fact that management is none too happy about it.