Hollywood Writers Strike
Posted by Michael Link on November 5, 2007 at 10:50 AM
As profits shift away from television and to the web, you can expect to see new conflicts about how to deal with it. A perfect example comes today, with a strike resulting from the break-down of negotiations between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producer.
In the long-term, this may symbolize the new challenges facing many of today's workers.
Not that the old struggles are over. As the AFL-CIO blog recently noted, each year about 5,700 workers are killed on the job. But today's strike still serves as a way for us to take another look at our assumptions when discussing the future of the labor movement, which working people depend on.
And that means we must keep questioning what issues matter to today's workers. Stephanie, who recently left the DNC, told me a while back about her days as a union organizer. When she would go from home to home trying to start a union, she said the key was always beginning by asking people about what their own concerns were -- because often they wouldn't be what we would expect as outsiders. Not many of us would have guessed this strike would have been born out of issues surrounding DVDs and web video, but in this way the same principle applies to organizing in this modern age.
Comments (5) «
You got it!
Nothing turns people off, no matter how good a plan, like arrogant limousine liberals, coming up and prating about how they are going to "save" us, and then start expounding ignorant nonsense in the form of some pie-in-the-sky scheme, that we are supposed to fall for lock step and thank said liberals for saving us poor benighted working people.
We know the problems, we know what needs to be done, and we aren't stupid. Ignorant, maybe, but that's curable. All we need are the TRUE facts!
The Democratic party used to know this, then somewhere about the '70s they forgot it and drove most of the workers into the lying arms of the Republican party.
You guys are getting a second chance. Don't blow it!!!
"arrogant limousine liberals"
Well, the people I was talking about are anything but that. I'm talking about hardworking union organizers who work endless hours traveling non-stop to improve the working conditions on the ground. They're really heroes, and they're certainly in touch with the people they work with.
Your point speaks to something different, I think, so you likely agree with what I just said. We also agree on the basic principle that the emphasis has to be on giving working people a voice. I just wanted to make sure my point was clear.
First the humor -- they're professional writers and the only thing their signs say is "On Strike". I kept looking to spot one with something clever on it.........well, I found it ironic anyway.
This is an excellent point about how the times have changed and so has the landscape for the workforce of America. We cannot take for granted that everyone is a political geek (and we are if we are posting here) and find the same things of importance that we do. We have learned to accept diversity in many things but seem to struggle with the idea that some people really just care about their immediate family and household. It reminds me of the conflict between the feminists and the homemakers. The feminist movement of the early 70's made homemakers feel left out. And often the homemakers took some feminist statements as insults because they too were not trying to see through the other's eyes.
The only way to really know what people care about and want is to just ask and go from there.
im a highschool student & i am a bit confused what exactly are the writers mad about? & are the fact that they arent writing really gonna affect us? cant we just hire more writers?
im a highschool student & i am a bit confused what exactly are the writers mad about? & are the fact that they arent writing really gonna affect us? cant we just hire more writers?
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