Spontaneous Musings

Read this post in tightropegirl's journal for a way to help the WGA:

http://tightropegirl.livejournal.com/16185.html

or go to Unitedhollywood.com or fan4writers.com

Have mixed feelings about labor union strikes - mostly because in some not all instances the strike hurts people who are what can best called innocent bystanders - who stand to gain nothing by the strike and everything to lose. On the other hand, a strike is the worker's last means of resistence. Without the ability to strike - workers are defenseless.

In the WGA Strike - the unseen victims are not just the audience (who really only loses another means of entertainment) but the crew, production assistants, and non-contract players who are being laid-off due to the strike. For the Broadway stage-hands strike - the victims are the restaurants, hotels, ticket takers, and other people involved in the show. And in the Transit Workers Strike - it was basically everyone. Some people found a silver lining in the conflict, such as my friend Wales who shared cabs with people and had great conversations, while others died waiting for ambulances or fire trucks, or laid-off from work unable to get there. Your opinion regarding a strike may have a great deal to do with your own background and experience.

A rambling History of Strikes and Protests in General

The world has an interesting history regarding strikes. Italy and France have been shut down on numerous occassions due to transportation strikes. And back in 1981 Ronald Regan handled the air traffic controllers strike by firing the controllers. At the time, the action was effective and changed American Labor Union History. Prior to 1981, 300 strikes happened each year, now less than 30 due to the fact that employers now had the ability to fire strikers and hire new people to fill the jobs. Regan did the same thing Bloomberg and Guilani did in New York City in regards to the Transit Workers Union - threatened to fine or fire the striking workers, stating what they were doing was illegal under the law. In NY - that law is called the Taylor Law. The TCW (Transit workers union) is still paying for violating that law and has sworn never to violate it again as they did in 2005 for three days.

Don't worry, the WGA strike does not fall under this law or any laws similar to it. True the strike could cost the country millions of dollars in revenue not to mention lots of jobs - but it is not dangerous and does not pose a threat to national security or safety in quite the same way that the air traffic controllers and transit union strikes did.

But, are strikes or protests of this sort really effective? Guess it depends on the strike. The Columbia University Hunger Strike Against Racism and to Promote Ethnic Diversity certainly has been. As were two graduate student strikes last year to unionize. And last year - students on MySpace and FaceBook organized a nationwide walkout/strike to protest the war in Iraq - Iraq Protest - which while not necessarily effective did demonstrate to the terror of many authorities how fast people could organize using the internet. And of course there have been Teamsters strikes, airline strikes, and autoworkers strikes that have managed to obtain needed results.

As a worker -a strike is your last mode of resistence or weapon. You have hit a brick wall. Realize you have no power outside of what you bring to the party. The only way to win? Remove it. The first Labor Union strike in American History (according to Wiki) - was The Polish Craftsman Strike in Jamestown in the British Colonies in 1619 And according to Wikipedia strikes date back to Egypt.


Strikes and The Entertainment Industry

But what about Hollywood and the Entertainment Industry? Before the Unions - Hollywood and Broadway were run by studios and theater owners. Actors, Writers, Muscians, Directors, and Crew were slaves to the studios and the syndicate - which in many cases was Mafia run. They had to do whatever films or shows the studios/syndicate wanted regardless of what it was. Back in those early years, strikes often turned violent. Sameul Goldwyn, the head of MGM, was rumored to remark that he would mow down strikers as they picketed. Amongst the first strikes was the Actors Equity Strike of 1919 - seeking an end to the dominance of the Theatrical Syndicate. SAG, the Screen Actors Guild, was started in 1933 to eliminate grueling working conditions for actors without contracts. Major Strikes by the SAG include the 1980s Emmy Boycott - the only actor to attend was Powers Booth. The strike was successful by the way, more successful than the WGA strike of 1988, the SAG got 32.25% increase in salaries and 4.2% share for movies mad for pay tv. See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_Actors_Guild for more information on SAG.

The WGA's history is a bit more complicated. They began shortly after SGA with the Screen Writers Guild. Not to be confused with the Screen Playwrites dominated by studios. Then somewhere along the way the Writers Guild of America West and Writers Guild of America, East were formed. Prior to that we had the Television Writers of America and the ScreenWriters of America, it was not until the 1970's that the two joined forces. For a complete history on this go here:

http://wy.essortment.com/historywriters_rjuh.htm

The WGA history much like SAG has hits and misses. They lost in 1988, by giving up on the home video market. The 1988 strike was the longest in history and lasted five months. It was about residuals for hour-long tv shows, and reruns shown in syndication in foreign countries. It outlasted the 1960's strike by one day and resulted in the early deaths of Moonlighting and Kate & Allie. 1960's made huge strides in obtaining health care benefits. Go here for a brief history of WGA strike gains :

Http://unitedhollywood.blogspot.com/2007/11/brief-history-of-strike-gains.html

and go here for information on 2001 near strike and on-going issues with internet residuals:

http://www.convergenceculture.org/weblog/2007/11/wga_strike_in_context_a_brief.php

In the last three strikes, including this one, the main issue is residuals.


So what the heck are residuals and why are the writers so worried about them?

Basically residuals are money that is paid above the normal salary for work that does not come under the normal contract. For example - those websodes that you saw for BSG on the internet. OR when a work is redistributed in another format or medium after you've been paid for it such as reruns, streaming video, and itune downloads. Residuals are how writers pay mortagages, groceries, and put their kids through school - they are also how they survive in between gigs. But don't take my word for it -

Go here for a great explanation on residuals and the fight for residuals since the 1940s.

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=264595

and this little piece on YouTube explains clearly from the WGA perspective what residuals mean, why they are fighting for them, and why they need them so desperately:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ55Ir2jCxk&eurl=http://www.rumorsdaily.com/tag/wga/

(By the way http://www.rumorsdaily.com is a great site for any one who is a fan of the Daily Show and the Daily Show's writers.)

Why should you care? I mean, unless you watch tv or movies?

Good question. It comes down to worker security in a world that is becoming increasingly insecure. Check the news for the number of lay-offs, home foreclosures, and unemployment figures. In Kansas City, Mo - it got so bad they were auctioning off people's homes. Workers have no rights in our current environment - benefits are being reduced daily due to the fact that there are more workers than jobs. Our health insurance is going up yearly, pensions are being cut, and our jobs are being outsourced to foreign countries. People are struggling. And the corporations are charging more and more. Movies have gone up to $11.50 in NYC. Broadway shows are now between $75-250 a ticket. People download files off the net to offset the cost and only tourists can afford most Broadway ticket prices.

In this world, the worker has little voice. Management can fire them at will to appease stockholders, bankers, or cover costs. CEO's and corporate heads make billions of dollars in our world, they have more houses than they know what to do with. The gap between the rich and poor is widening at a frightening pace. With the middle class disappearing bit by bit.

The Writers in Hollywood are workers, middle class laborers, who struggle to create a product. Sure about five percent make more than most of us can imagine, but the majority barely crunch out $20,000 a year if that. They have 13-week contracts, with a month notice of cancellation, and get paid per script. Most are freelance or non-contract workers. Also without writers - we do not have books, newspapers, magazines, blogs, tv shows, movies, comic books, cartoons, lyrics, or crossword puzzles. Most of us online are writers - or we wouldn't be online. We don't make any money at it and we do envy to a degree those that do, but if we don't support them - how can we hope to ever make money at it ourselves? Also, think about the others affected, the men and women who are being laid-off by the studios, whose jobs depend on writers being able to creat stories, who are supporting the writers for this reason.

What can you do? Sign the petition on unitedhollywood.com and if you aren't afraid of pay pal (like me) send a box of pencils via the same site. It's not much, but at least it is something.