![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The WGA strike is big news in a lot of the LJ's and forums that I'm on. It probably goes without saying that I'm all for the writers. I know that the stars get all the press and that without good actors even the best scripts suck. Hell, look at Shakespeare -- sometimes the best scripts require good actors. But without the writers, the actors would have nothing. Writers, by the very nature of their work -- behind the scenes, not the focus of any popular awards, never given publicized credit -- are unknowns. Because the common thought is "Hell, anyone can write" they are devalued as a profession even before their ideas and words appear on a screen. That "valuelessness" is compounded in an industry that values gore, glitz and glamour over substance. And even worse and industry that doesn't realize that the "gore, glitz and glamour" has to start out in a writer's mind or you get nothing.
The writers deserve to be well compensated. They deserve to have access to the same type of copyright protection and royalty rights that any other writer has. The WGA needs to look to the future and demand that they get paid whenever someone uses their words to make money.
As usual, however, I look beyond the immediate concern of compensation and I think that this strike is important society as a whole, not just to the WGA members and those who work in the entertainment community. Hence my choice for icon: Save the writers, save the world. There are two main philosophical issues that this writer's strike speaks to. I'm breaking into two posts not to spam my flist, but because they are two very separate thoughts.
The value of unions in America. If this strike ends in failure for the WGA it will be a huge blow to all unions, everywhere. Not only will it severely impact the DGA (directors) and SAG (actors) negotiations that are coming in the spring, but failure will essentially break the union. It will cement the decline of union power that has marked these past few decades. Unions were once almost universally seen as a power for good; the banding together of the underdog for the betterment of all. Starting in the 70s with Jimmy Hoffa, Teamster corruption, ties to organized crime and broad support of specific political candidates/parties that view has changed. Playing another large part in the decline of union power is the decline in industries that employ union members (factory and industrial workers) and an increase of small businesses and independent contractors who suddenly find themselves labels as "enemies" to the unions.
If the WGA goes down, this is just going to speed the lost of union power. Maybe not in the "political" sense, at least not yet. But to the "little guy" (the ones who they are supposed to be helping), it's got to look bad. And certainly big business will see this as an opening to break other unions.
I know that's a hell of a lot to put on people who are just trying to ensure that they can make a living wage off of what they do. And I understand that saying "I'm sorry, but you have to lose everything for the big picture" is a hard sell when there are children to take care of. It's especially hard when the wider union community in the US doesn't seem to give a damn. This is the moment when the power of unions should come to the forefront. This is the moment when unions everywhere should say "We stand with you"; when they should be providing support to those involved in the strike and should be getting out and publishing their cause so that the average person understands the stakes involved.
I may be reading more into this then there is, but I've seen a local union broken and the decline that comes from that. I've seen the larger "brotherhood" of unions basically say that those particular "little guys" are just to little to care about. I've seen the bitterness that comes from that. Not only at the company that broke them but at the union that failed them. *shrug* Like I said, I could be overstating it. Perhaps this is natural evolution and unions just aren't as important as they once were. I don't know, but if I were a union right now, I'd be more than a little concerned about all this.
Continued in part two Critical Thinking
The writers deserve to be well compensated. They deserve to have access to the same type of copyright protection and royalty rights that any other writer has. The WGA needs to look to the future and demand that they get paid whenever someone uses their words to make money.
As usual, however, I look beyond the immediate concern of compensation and I think that this strike is important society as a whole, not just to the WGA members and those who work in the entertainment community. Hence my choice for icon: Save the writers, save the world. There are two main philosophical issues that this writer's strike speaks to. I'm breaking into two posts not to spam my flist, but because they are two very separate thoughts.
The value of unions in America. If this strike ends in failure for the WGA it will be a huge blow to all unions, everywhere. Not only will it severely impact the DGA (directors) and SAG (actors) negotiations that are coming in the spring, but failure will essentially break the union. It will cement the decline of union power that has marked these past few decades. Unions were once almost universally seen as a power for good; the banding together of the underdog for the betterment of all. Starting in the 70s with Jimmy Hoffa, Teamster corruption, ties to organized crime and broad support of specific political candidates/parties that view has changed. Playing another large part in the decline of union power is the decline in industries that employ union members (factory and industrial workers) and an increase of small businesses and independent contractors who suddenly find themselves labels as "enemies" to the unions.
If the WGA goes down, this is just going to speed the lost of union power. Maybe not in the "political" sense, at least not yet. But to the "little guy" (the ones who they are supposed to be helping), it's got to look bad. And certainly big business will see this as an opening to break other unions.
I know that's a hell of a lot to put on people who are just trying to ensure that they can make a living wage off of what they do. And I understand that saying "I'm sorry, but you have to lose everything for the big picture" is a hard sell when there are children to take care of. It's especially hard when the wider union community in the US doesn't seem to give a damn. This is the moment when the power of unions should come to the forefront. This is the moment when unions everywhere should say "We stand with you"; when they should be providing support to those involved in the strike and should be getting out and publishing their cause so that the average person understands the stakes involved.
I may be reading more into this then there is, but I've seen a local union broken and the decline that comes from that. I've seen the larger "brotherhood" of unions basically say that those particular "little guys" are just to little to care about. I've seen the bitterness that comes from that. Not only at the company that broke them but at the union that failed them. *shrug* Like I said, I could be overstating it. Perhaps this is natural evolution and unions just aren't as important as they once were. I don't know, but if I were a union right now, I'd be more than a little concerned about all this.
Continued in part two Critical Thinking
