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Hot labor summer: How L.A. became the epicenter of solidarity

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Hot labor summer: How L.A. became the epicenter of solidarity

It’s hot, sweaty and built on solidarity: Los Angeles has become a city of picket lines this summer, with more than 100,000 workers out on strike in the region.

Each set of workers — screenwriters, actors, hotel employees, city staffers and more — is fighting its own particular fight, but organized labor is having a moment on the streets of L.A.

“There’s a perception that we have little in common, but we’re both fighting for our future,” playwright Sam Chanse said recently as she walked a picket line alongside hotel workers.

But is this hot labor summer just a perfect storm of organizing, economics and contract expiration? Or is this a new normal?

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Strike activity in the U.S. has quadrupled since last year, and Los Angeles is the work stoppage capital for 2023, largely because of the huge number of L.A.-area writers and actors represented by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA unions.

Nationally, however, this level of labor action is a return to pre-pandemic form. More than 400,000 workers went on strike in both 2018 and 2019, which saw the “Red for Ed” teacher strikes and a major work stoppage at General Motors. This year’s picket population has topped 300,000 so far — but still has time to set a recent record, if the nearly 150,000 workers at the Big Three automakers go out on strike after their contracts expire in September.

On a longer timescale, the last decade has seen significantly less industrial action than most decades of the 20th century, when union membership was much higher across the U.S. And despite a wave of new union organizing at companies such as Starbucks and Amazon, workers have had a difficult time bargaining first contracts and fending off anti-union tactics from employers.

Still, it’s hard to deny that there’s something in the air this season. Johnnie Kallas, a doctoral candidate at Cornell University who runs the Cornell-ILR Labor Action Tracker that keeps tabs on labor actions nationwide, points to the pandemic as a proximate cause.

“For a lot of these workers, this is the first contract that they’re negotiating since the beginning of the pandemic,” Kallas said.

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Meanwhile, the cost of living has been jumping, which means even standard raises are still tantamount to pay cuts; corporate profits have been on the rise across the economy since 2020; and unemployment has remained low, giving workers more bargaining power.

That potent combination of factors, Kallas said, has made workers willing to fight.

“The pandemic had the effect of delegitimizing management in every which way,” said Nelson Lichtenstein, who teaches labor history at UC Santa Barbara.

Especially in the early days of the pandemic, managers “were discredited whether or not they tried to do the right thing,” Lichtenstein said. Office workers learned that they could have been working from home the whole time, even before lockdown rules made it necessary. “Essential workers,” who had to report to work in person, learned that their health was less important than the bottom line.

Then, as the COVID-19 recession turned into a stock market boom, rising prices ate away at the spending power of the average employee while many of the companies they worked for reported blockbuster earnings.

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“Corporations lost their credibility,” Lichtenstein said, “and it was very intimate. It wasn’t something like a Madoff or big banks doing something. It was right there in everyone’s face.”

Los Angeles in particular sits at the vanguard of two trends: increasingly expensive housing and an increasing amount of cross-union solidarity.

Unite Here Local 11, the union representing workers on strike at dozens of hotels across the region, has explicitly tied its demands at the bargaining table to housing issues. In negotiations, the union has asked hotel owners to charge customers a new fee that would feed into a fund to help workers obtain affordable housing and support a 2024 ballot measure that would require Los Angeles hotels to rent vacant rooms to unhoused people.

The decades-long decay in regular residual payments and show staffing has also put housing costs front and center for writers and actors who are on strike.

Even the group representing local businesses agrees that housing costs are contributing to labor unrest.

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Maria Salinas, president of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, said that her group is “very concerned about the affordability issues, mainly in housing” and that it advocates for regulatory changes to increase housing construction.

According to a recent informal poll of about 100 chief executives, Salinas said, “the top issue was housing affordability, followed by tightness in the labor market,” both of which are making it difficult to recruit and retain workers in Los Angeles.

Kent Wong, director of the UCLA Labor Center, noted that housing costs also motivated the statewide UC graduate student worker strike last year, with workers facing “tremendous difficulty making ends meet, especially given the rising cost of housing.”

“The other major factor is that Los Angeles is an important focal point for the new American labor movement,” Wong said. Since Miguel Contreras assumed the leadership of the L.A. County Federation of Labor in the mid-1990s, the local labor movement has been at the forefront of organizing immigrant workers, nonunion workers and young workers across industries to push for political change, such as raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour and beyond.

The L.A. labor movement is working together more than it has in past years. In March, L.A. school teachers represented by United Teachers Los Angeles coordinated a joint three-day strike with L.A. school workers represented by SEIU Local 99. Within weeks of the joint action, both unions secured contracts with major raises — 21% for the teachers and 30% for the workers represented by SEIU. This year is also the first time since 1960 that screenwriters and actors are simultaneously on strike, and the local Teamsters have committed to honoring their picket lines.

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But still, organized labor in the U.S. is relatively weak compared with earlier decades — and efforts to organize new groups of workers and get them under union contracts has faced stiff opposition from employers.

“Normally when you think of moments of mobilization and discrediting of the old order, from the ‘30s to the ‘60s and ‘70s, organization expands,” Lichtenstein said. “But right now that’s not happening.”

To explain the gap, Lichtenstein points to weaker labor laws and management hostility.

“The management strategy now is basically to not recognize the union and wait it out, even if they take a reputational hit, and that’s often successful,” Lichtenstein said. “The playbook works, given the current state of the labor laws,” which hit employers with small penalties for violations and have little power to force employers to the bargaining table.

“In this country, management is very antagonistic to the idea of unions and collective bargaining, even when it could be in their interest or lead to good outcomes,” said Kallas, the Cornell researcher. Starbucks workers, for instance, have organized unions at more than 300 coffee shops, but the company has waged an intense campaign to avoid recognizing them or bargaining a first contract.

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But if hardball tactics from management keep colliding with a workforce that’s losing purchasing power, losing their homes and losing their patience, then workers could keep organizing and keep resorting to strikes when negotiations fall apart.

The summer’s strikes are “a reflection in an upsurge in worker consciousness and a reflection of a deep dissatisfaction with a status quo that is not working for most workers,” Wong said.

Wong added that economic inequality in California grew during the pandemic despite the ostensibly pro-labor makeup of the state government. “More workers are seeing the necessity of organizing, mobilizing and fighting for better wages and conditions at the work site.”

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Trump Says He Will Impose 10% Tariffs on Chinese Imports on Feb. 1

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Trump Says He Will Impose 10% Tariffs on Chinese Imports on Feb. 1

President Trump said on Tuesday that he intended to impose a 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports into the United States on Feb. 1, a decision that is sure to escalate trade tensions between the world’s largest economies.

Speaking at the White House, Mr. Trump said that the tariffs were in response to China’s role in America’s fentanyl crisis. Mr. Trump said that China was sending fentanyl to Canada and Mexico, from where it would be transported into the United States.

The tariff threat comes after Mr. Trump said on Monday that he planned to impose a 25 percent duty on imports from Canada and Mexico as punishment for allowing fentanyl and illegal immigrants to cross into the United States.

“We’re talking about a tariff of 10 percent on China based on the fact that they’re sending fentanyl to Mexico and Canada,” Mr. Trump said.

Those tariffs would come on top of levies that Mr. Trump imposed on more than $300 billion worth of Chinese imports during his first term. Those tariffs were kept in place by former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who imposed additional levies on Chinese electric vehicles, solar cells, semiconductors and advanced batteries.

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Mr. Trump’s pledge to hit China, Canada and Mexico with tariffs is expected to result in retaliatory action against U.S. industries. Economists have warned that a global trade war could cause inflation to rebound and blunt U.S. economic growth.

Mr. Trump signed an executive order on Monday directing various agencies to study a wide variety of trade issues with an eye toward future tariffs, but he did not impose any new levies immediately, as he had previously threatened.

Instead he ordered U.S. officials to examine flows of migrants and drugs from Canada, China and Mexico to the United States, and the compliance of those three countries and others with their existing trade agreements with the United States.

Mr. Trump negotiated a new trade deal with Canada and Mexico during his first term: the United States-Mexico-Canada-Agreement, or U.S.M.C.A. He also agreed to a limited trade pact with China that was supposed to reward American farmers.

He has since said that he wants to rewrite both agreements during his second term.

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Mr. Trump and Xi Jinping, China’s president, spoke last week and discussed trade, fentanyl and areas where the world’s two largest economies could work together.

After Mr. Trump’s tariff action against China in his first term, he signed on to a broad economic agreement in 2020.

Relations between the countries unraveled during the pandemic, which Mr. Trump blamed on China, and Beijing failed to live up to many of its agreements in the deal, including to purchase American farm products.

Scott Bessent, Mr. Trump’s pick to be Treasury secretary, said during his confirmation hearing last week that he planned to press his Chinese counterparts to start buying U.S. farm products as their government had promised.

The Treasury nominee also said that he would press his Chinese counterparts to purchase additional products to make up for what the country was supposed to buy over the last four years.

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Netflix had a record-breaking quarter. Here come the price hikes

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Netflix had a record-breaking quarter. Here come the price hikes

Netflix gained a record number of subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2024, further solidifying its dominance in the streaming market and capping the company’s biggest year yet.

The company added 19 million paid subscribers, bringing its total base to 302 million customers globally in the fourth quarter, topping even the gains it made during the COVID-19 streaming surge.

Hits such as the second season of Korean drama “Squid Game” and a live boxing match between YouTuber turned fighter Jake Paul and former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, along with other content, helped drive viewership and subscriptions.

Netflix reported $10.2 billion in quarterly revenue, up 16% from a year ago. Net income was nearly $1.9 billion, compared with $938 million for the same period in 2023. The Los Gatos, Calif., streamer’s results beat analysts’ estimates of $10.1 billion in sales and $1.8 billion in profit, according to FactSet.

Netflix said its priorities for this year are to improve its core business with series and films and grow its ad-supported business, while continuing to develop its newer initiatives, such as live programming and games. Netflix increased its 2025 revenue forecast by about $500 million, raising its projections to a range of $43.5 billion to $44.5 billion.

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“We maintain a leadership position in engagement, revenue and profit,” Netflix said in a letter to shareholders on Tuesday.

The company’s stock price has risen significantly over the last year, closing at $869.68 on Tuesday, up nearly 80% from 12 months ago. The shares gained about 14% in after-hours trading.

“Netflix cleared an important hurdle preying on investors’ minds: Can the company keep its margins healthy against incoming pressures from a strong U.S. dollar and rising inflation?” said Thomas Monteiro, senior analyst at Investing.com. “This should shape the 2025 financial environment for the company.”

Since November 2022, Netflix has brought in more customers for its cheaper advertising subscriptions and more live-event programming to draw advertisers. Analysts say they believe this will be a key area of growth for the streamer in the future.

“In the long run, advertising offers Netflix one of its biggest growth opportunities, helping them attract new members who previously considered Netflix too expensive,” said Albie Amankona, an analyst at Third Bridge, in a statement.

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The Tyson vs. Paul match drew 65 million live concurrent streams, putting a strain on the company’s technical capabilities and resulting in glitches. Last month, Netflix streamed two NFL football games on Christmas Day with an average of more than 30 million global viewers. In January, Netflix became the exclusive home to “WWE Raw” in the U.S. and other countries.

But Netflix cautioned that the company still intends to be selective when bidding for live sports rights, which can be hugely expensive.

Co-Chief Executive Ted Sarandos said that, although Netflix was pleased with the viewership of its NFL games, “it doesn’t change the underlying economics,” calling full-season big league sports “extremely challenging.”

“We are going to be mindful of the bottom line,” Sarandos said in an earnings presentation.

The company has increased its revenue by cracking down on password sharing, offering options to people who are using their families’ and friends’ accounts but not living in the same household to pay an additional fee.

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Netflix on Tuesday said it is raising prices for most plans in the U.S., Canada, Portugal and Argentina. In the U.S., the cost of a standard plan with ads is increasing by $1 to $7.99 a month. The ad-free standard plan is going up $2.50 to $17.99 a month and premium plans will increase $2 to $24.99 a month.

Like all streaming services, Netflix will also need to continue to serve up compelling content to attract audiences. Despite the devastating wildfires that have swept through parts of the Los Angeles area, Sarandos said he doesn’t expect meaningful delays to Netflix’s productions.

“The company’s reliance on cyclical success from flagship shows like ‘Stranger Things’ or ‘Squid Game’ makes it difficult to forecast strong versus weak years,” Amankona said. “Unlike Disney, which benefits from long-standing franchises, Netflix’s limited investment in repeatable IP adds further volatility.”

The company’s slate of upcoming content includes new seasons of the Addams Family series “Wednesday” and a third season of “Squid Game” coming out later this year.

One of its upcoming film big bets is “Narnia,” directed by Greta Gerwig, which will exclusively premiere on Imax for two weeks before it’s released on Netflix in 2026.

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Trump Pitches External Revenue Service to Collect Tariffs: What to Know

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Trump Pitches External Revenue Service to Collect Tariffs: What to Know

President Trump has promised to generate a “massive” amount of revenue with tariffs on foreign products, an amount so big that the president said he would create a new agency — the External Revenue Service — to handle collecting the money.

“Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens,” Mr. Trump said on Monday in his inaugural address, where he reiterated a promise to create the agency. “It will be massive amounts of money pouring into our Treasury coming from foreign sources.”

Much about the new agency remains unclear, including how it would differ from the government’s current operations. Trade experts said that, despite the name “external,” the bulk of tariff revenue would continue to be collected from U.S. businesses that import products.

Here’s what you need to know about what Mr. Trump has proposed.

Tariff revenue is currently collected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which monitors the goods and the people that come into the United States through hundreds of airports and land crossings.

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This has been the case nearly since the country’s inception. Congress established the Customs Service in 1789 as part of the Treasury Department, and for roughly a century tariffs were the primary source of government revenue, counted in stately customs houses that still stand in most major cities throughout the United States, said John Foote, a customs lawyer at Kelley, Drye and Warren.

With the creation of the income tax in 1913, tariffs became a minor source of government revenue, and after the Sept. 11 attacks, the customs bureau was moved from the Treasury Department to the Department of Homeland Security.

Customs officials today collect tariff revenue, but also monitor food safety, enforce intellectual property rights, inspect crops for pests and screen imports for goods made with forced labor, Mr. Foote said.

Creating a new agency is the provenance of Congress, not of the president, so it is not clear how the administration might go about establishing the new unit.

In an executive order issued on Monday evening, the president directed the leaders of Treasury, Commerce and Homeland Security to “investigate the feasibility of establishing and recommend the best methods for designing, building, and implementing an External Revenue Service (ERS) to collect tariffs, duties, and other foreign trade-related revenues.”

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The money that the United States collected from tariffs grew significantly as Mr. Trump imposed levies on foreign metals, solar panels and thousands of goods from China in 2018 and 2019. The government collected $111.8 billion in trade duties, taxes and fees in 2022, up from $41.6 billion in 2018, according to Customs data.

That number could increase by multiples if Mr. Trump follows through on his promises to tax all American imports, and impose even higher levies on products from China. On Monday evening, Mr. Trump said that he planned to move forward with a 25 percent tariff on Canada and Mexico on Feb. 1, and was considering a universal tariff on all foreign products.

Mr. Trump and other Republicans are eagerly looking to tariff revenue to help to finance tax cuts. Still, tariffs are likely to earn just a tiny slice of what the United States takes in through income taxes. Economists say revenue from even very substantial tariffs would likely max out in the hundreds of billions of dollars, while the United States took in $4.2 trillion in income and payroll taxes last fiscal year. Tariffs would also decrease U.S. deficits, lower growth and raise consumer prices, the Congressional Budget Office calculated last month.

Mr. Trump insists that foreign countries pay the tariffs but it’s actually so-called importers of record — the companies responsible for bringing products into the United States — who pay tariffs to the government. Most importers sign up for a government electronic payment system, and the tariff fees are automatically deducted from their bank accounts as they bring products into the country.

Importers of record can be of any nationality: U.S. companies, U.S.-based divisions or branches of foreign companies, or foreign companies directly importing, without a business presence within the United States, Mr. Foote said.

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But Richard Mojica, a customs lawyer at Miller & Chevalier, said U.S. importers “are usually U.S. companies.” He said that Mr. Trump had created confusion by saying that the External Revenue Service “would collect duties and tariffs ‘that come from foreign sources’ — a term that nobody understands.”

“I don’t see how the E.R.S. could collect tariff payments from a foreign manufacturer who is not also the U.S. importer of record,” Mr. Mojica added.

The question of who pays the tariff to the government is somewhat distinct from the issue of who ultimately bears the tariff’s costs. The importer can pass the cost of the tariff on to American consumers in the form of higher prices, or it could try to force its foreign factories to sell its goods more cheaply.

Every case is different, but several economic studies have found that American consumers mostly bore the brunt of Mr. Trump’s previous tariffs on China.

Some trade analysts say that the name “External Revenue Service” is an effort to disguise who really pays for tariffs.

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Scott Lincicome, the vice president of economics and trade at the Cato Institute, which supports free trade, called the agency’s name “more branding than substance — and misleading branding at that.”

“Trump could call it the ‘Foreigners Pay the Tariffs Agency,’ and it still wouldn’t change the fact that Americans really are,” he said.

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