Chicago Reader: Drunk Shakespeare Goes Union

While the Writers Guild of America strike goes on, there are signs that others in the entertainment industry (as in so many other sectors of the economy) are looking for union representation.

The numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on union membership are a mixed bag, to say the least; while the absolute number of unionized workers increased by 200,000 in 2022, the number of nonunion jobs grew faster, and last year, U.S. union membership decreased to 10.1 percent of the employed population—the lowest on record. Still, the National Labor Relations Board saw an increase of 53 percent in union representation petitions last year.

Locally, the instructors at Second City, along with their colleagues in Hollywood and Toronto, continue to negotiate for a union contract as the Association of International Comedy Educators (AICE)—a process that began over two years ago.

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