“The union representing about 15,000 dockworkers at the nation’s largest ports declined an offer by employers to extend existing labor contracts for a year, setting the stage for heated negotiations. The Pacific Maritime Association which represents 70 ocean carriers and terminals operating at 29,” reports Augusta Saraiva in The Seattle Times.

“West Coast ports, including Seattle and Tacoma proposed extending its current agreement with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union for another year through July 1, 2023, it said in a Nov. 16 letter to the ILWU seen by Bloomberg News. There is already a perception among the trade community that negotiations are likely to result.”

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“Shortstop Wander Franco quickly emerged as one of MLB’s best players this season and the Tampa Bay Rays are wasting no time locking him up. The club is closing in on signing Franco to a record-setting contact extension and Jim Bowden of CBS Sports HQ reports the deal is expected to be in the 12-year,” reports Mike Axisa in CBS Sports.

“The current record contract for a player with less than one full year of service time is Ronald Acuna Jr.’s eight-year, $100 million contract with the defending World Series champion Atlanta Braves, a record Franco is poised to smash. Here are the largest ever contracts given to players with less than a full year of service time not including players.”

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“When IATSE, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, announced on November 15 that its members had ratified two new contracts, the statement came with an asterisk: A majority of voting members had actually voted against one of them. In the high-turnout vote, only 49.6 percent,” reports Chris Stanton in Vulture.

“Agreement, which was ratified anyway under the union’s Electoral College style delegate system. The results have stirred controversy among IATSE’s energized membership nearly 60,000 of whom work under one of the two new contracts who voted almost unanimously. in October to authorize a nationwide strike for the first time.”

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“If three is a magic number, last week was pretty magical for Front & York. Each of the three priciest contracts signed in Brooklyn last week were for units in the luxury condo building at 85 Jay Street in Dumbo, according to Compass weekly report. The three units were last asking $8.75 million, $6.25m,” reports Cordilia James in The Real Deal.

“If it fetches its asking price, the priciest of the three will be Dumbo’s most expensive condo sale since 2017. At $2,853 per square foot, the penthouse is believed to be the highest price per square foot for a new development condo in Brooklyn, a representative for the building said. The last ask of $8.75 million is $1 million more than.”

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“Google executives told employees last week in a companywide meeting that it is interested in a Pentagon contract for cloud computing and that working for the military would not necessarily conflict with principles created by the company for how its artificial intelligence technology would be used,” reports Kate Conger in The New York Times.

“Google is pursuing the contract three years after an employee revolt forced the company to abandon work on a Pentagon program that used artificial intelligence and to establish new guidelines against using A.I. for weapons or surveillance. The pursuit potentially sets up another clash between company leaders and employees.”

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“Universal Music Group is modifying its contracts to extend the period in which an artist can rerecord their music, The Wall Street Journal reported. The move comes after the success of Taylor Swift’s rerecorded albums and the music label’s effort to gain more rights from artists who decide to rerecord,” reports Jasmine Hicks in The Verge.

“Before, a standard contract stated that an artist couldn’t rerecord their work five years after their last delivered recording or two years after the end of their contract term, whichever is later. The new format increases the time after recording to seven years and the time after a contract term to five years, WSJ says. Swift owns the music.”

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“After three days of voting, more than 2,500 Communications Workers of America employees at Mercy, Kenmore Mercy and Sisters St. Joseph hospitals have approved six new four-year union contracts. This officially ends the strike at Mercy in South Buffalo, where nurses, service, clerical and technical,” reports Marian Hetherly in WBFO.

“The biggest issue on the bargaining table has been staffing. CWA said the minimum nurse-to-patient staffing levels secured in the new contracts with Catholic Health are the “first written into a union contract in the country outside of California, and will set a precedent for hospitals across New York and beyond. New York’s own safe staffing.”

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“MLB Trade Rumors put together their list of the top 50 free agents this offseason with projections. However, unlike McDaniel, MLB Trade Rumors also had Jorge Soler among their top 50 free agents, coming in at 25. Beginning with Freeman, MLB Trade Rumors projects the Braves first baseman to sign a six-year,” reports Chase Irle in ATL.

“Two of the three writers had him staying with the Braves, with one predicting him to sign with the Red Sox. Six years seems to be the popular pick as far as the length of Freeman’s next contract goes. McDaniel also had Freeman signing a six-year deal, but for $156 million. I agree with the length of the deal but have a feeling MLB Trade.”

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“When you’re looking to seal a big deal, two units can be better than one. A combined condominium in Brooklyn Heights was the borough’s most expensive listing to go into contract last week, according to Compass’ weekly report. The units at One Brooklyn Bridge Park, which span a total 3,310 square,” reports Cordilia James in The Real Deal.

“It had a last asking price of $5.35 million, or $1,616 per square foot. The condo has four bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms and 35 windows that overlook the harbor, Statue of Liberty and Manhattan skyline. Up next was a four-story townhouse at 562 Second Street in Park Slope. The 4,440-square-foot home was last asking $4.3 million.”

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“A city ballot proposal heavily backed by union groups garnered strong support from Ann Arbor voters in the election Tuesday, Nov. 2. Proposal A, which rewrites city charter requirements for awarding large contracts for projects such as road and sewer improvements, passed with 78% support,” reports Ryan Stanton in M Live.

“Voters were asked to Ok a new policy requiring the city to award future contracts to the bidder that provides the best value to the city, rather than the lowest responsible bidder. City Council Member Jen Eyer, D-4th Ward, championed the proposal, saying it gives the city more flexibility to implement a responsible contractor policy.”

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“For the second time in under one month, workers at the agriculture equipment maker Deere & Company rejected a contract proposal negotiated by their union on Tuesday, extending a strike that began in mid-October. Roughly 10,000 workers, primarily at plants in Iowa and Illinois, on Oct. 10,” reports Noam Scheiber in The New York Times.

“Voted down an earlier agreement negotiated by the United Automobile Workers union. The strike against John Deere & Company will continue as we discuss next steps with the company, the union said in a statement. Marc A. Howze, a senior Deere official, said in a statement that the agreement would have included an investment.”

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“Anthony Rendon and Justin Upton have played very inconsistently with the LA Angels after signing big deals. As for Rendon, he signed a $245 million deal over seven years. That’s an average of $35 million per year. In his first season with the Angels, he played well, but didn’t earn that type of payday. He had,” reports Evan Desai in Halo Hangout.

“The issue was, he wasn’t producing many runs, either by scoring them himself or driving them in. He only hit nine home runs and he only drove in 31. He only scored 29 times. I know it was of course a very shortened season that year, but that would equate to just about 24 home runs and 83 or 84 RBI with about 78 runs scored over a full.”

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“Mike Perry has joined the roster at Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. The veteran welterweight has officially inked a multi-fight deal to join the bare-knuckle boxing promotion after spending the past five years as part of the UFC roster. BKFC officials confirmed the news to MMA Fighting on,” reports Damon Martin in MMA Fighting.

“Terms of Perry’s contract were not disclosed, and his management firm First Round Management did not immediately respond to a request for comment. At the press conference for the Contender Series, UFC President Dana White told reporters Perry’s UFC contract expired and wished him well on his next venture.”

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“Every holiday season, companies need people to work seasonal jobs in the retail and hospitality industries, but the need is also great for seasonal contract workers. Companies are looking for seasonal contract workers to help with IT security, E-commerce, and pandemic-related tasks at schools,” reports Aaron Cantrell in News Channel 5.

“Experts report the demand is so high workers have the upper hand. They can ask to work from home and ask for a higher pay. Last year, 54% of companies reported they were looking for end of the year contract workers. This year, 74% of companies in a new survey tell talent solutions firm Robert Half they’re looking for end of the year.”

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“Reps. Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden, both Maine Democrats, and Reps. Peter Welch, D-Vt, and Annie Kuster, D-N.H., on Monday sent a letter to chief executives of Danone regarding the company’s decision to terminate its contracts with 89 organic dairy farms in Maine and across the Northeast,” reports The Fence Post in their blog.

“By all accounts, your decision to sever the contracts of these 89 farms was one based solely on maximizing profits, regardless of the devastating consequences for the families and communities you cast aside and despite the reputational benefits and profit you gleaned from their work, the letter read. Clearly, your 2020 corporate.”

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“The union representing thousands of film and television production workers has reached a tentative agreement with studios, averting an strike that was set to begin Monday. The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) had been negotiating with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television,” reports Kim Lyons in The Verge.

“Which represents major production studios like Netflix, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, and Disney. IATSE sought improved working conditions, including weekend rest periods and higher pay scales on streaming shows for its members, who work in many behind-the-scenes roles in Hollywood, such as broadcast technicians, animators.”

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“Brooklyn’s luxury contracts picked up speed last week, with the most deals signed since the summertime. Thirty-five contracts for homes asking $2 million or more were signed in Brooklyn from Oct. 11-17, according to Compass’s weekly report. That figure marks a jump from the previous week, when 26,” reports Cordilia James in The Real Deal.

“The combined asking prices for the 35 homes was $116.3 million, up from the previous week’s $88.3 million. The median asking price of those homes was $2.75 million and the average price per square foot was $1,534. It’s taken a while for contract signings to heat up, with the number of deals finally surpassing 20 in late September after.”

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“Suns general manager James Jones said Tuesday the team never engaged in real negotiations with Deandre Ayton over the offseason regarding a potential contract extension. Monday marked the extension deadline for 2018 draftees, with a number of players receiving new contracts with their respective,” reports Michael Shapiro in SI.

“Memphis forward Jaren Jackson Jr. signed a $105 million extension on Monday, and Ayton’s teammate Mikal Bridges signed his own $90 million deal on Sunday. But after Monday’s deadline, Ayton will now reach restricted free agency next summer. Jones indicated Tuesday he was willing to discuss a max contract extension with Ayton’s.”

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“Bitfarms Ltd. A global Bitcoin mining company, signed engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts and commenced construction of a production facility in Argentina. As previously announced in April 2021, the new facility is expected to add up to 210 megawatts MW of infrastructure capacity,” reports Yahoo finance in their blog.

“Our new high-production facility in Argentina, which is expected to accommodate over 55,000 miners upon completion, will greatly expand our capacity and global footprint. Combined with the expansion in Quebec, Canada and our planned build-out in Paraguay, we are positioned to achieve our corporate target of 8 exahash per second.”

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“Two of Tellurian’s top executives have signed new deals to stay on with the Houston liquefied natural gas company. Tellurian’s Executive Chairman Charif Souki has agreed to stay onboard for the next three years, according to a document filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission,” reports Marcy de Luna in Houston Chronicle.

“Souki’s employment agreement will automatically renew for an additional 12 months and each year thereafter unless he or the company terminates it. Souki will make a base annual salary of $1,200,000, subject to annual review by the board of directors, according to the document. In addition, Souki’s annual cash bonus will range.”

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