So this week the Writers Guild of America and members of the AMPTP – aka the major studios and streamers – reached an agreement on a new three-year contract.
What this means is that once WGA members vote between Oct 2 – Oct 9th and make it official, an almost FIVE MONTH strike/work stoppage will end.
Hopefully, this will be followed by successful SAG-AFTRA negotiations this week, using some of what the WGA negotiated in terms of wages, streaming residuals and AI use as a template (Note: Yes, our issues differ but they also overlap so this will be a start).
There will certainly be a few hiccups but if all goes according to expectations, the actors will also get a fair deal and the entertainment industry should be fully up and running again.
The agreement is a bit complicated but not so much that it is incomprehensible. This Deadline Hollywood account gives you the highlights.
But you know what would also be great?
If the auto workers get a fair deal from their employers after agreeing to massive pay cuts when the economy tanked more than a decade ago in order to save their employers.
That would be great not only because they deserve it but also because it’s the JUST thing to do.
You know the BIG THREE auto MAKERS (Note: Whose CEO’s now each make tens of millions a year apiece in salary and stock options thanks to their laborers work and past sacrifices) are behind the eight ball when none other than FORTUNE magazine runs an article a few weeks ago with this headline:
Auto workers want 36% pay hike…automakers can afford it.
I’d provide a link to the article but like so many things these days it’s hiding behind a pay wall. And let’s face it, neither you or I are going to pay for a year’s worth of Fortune.
Still, here’s an article from NBC explaining some of the same issues.
There’s a reason labor unions exist and their workers sometimes must go on strike.
And no, it’s not because workers ENJOY going on strike.
Nor is it because most employers will voluntarily pay their employees anything more than the bare minimum they can get away with.
That is why the labor movement began in the first place, unions were formed and FDR became a hero to everyday Americans when he went a step further by creating the social security safety net.
It’s also the reason that I believe Union Joe Biden will be elected president a second time.
Eighty, schmeighty.
Most union members know when someone is blowing smoke up their engines, laptops or clip reels.
Especially when it’s happened before and the smoke is orange.
So yeah, times are tough.
But the majority of the country doesn’t want to go back in time before unions existed.
Nor do they want to recreate an era when women did not have the right to choose whether to have a child or had the ability to vote.
And they certainly aren’t going to choose to live in a decade where their non-white friends and co-workers didn’t have equal rights or their gay and lesbian relatives could never even consider legally getting married.
Sure, some people want all of that. Somewhere.
But they’re the VAST minority.
The kind of folks who rejoice at shutting the government down just so they can inflict pain on people in the military, civil servant employees and kids from low income families who rely on federal nutrition programs in order to eat.
The types who think people who don’t agree with them should be put to death.
Or don’t mind if the guy they’re voting for says it.
Even about a four-star U.S. Army general.
Science tells us that for every action there is a reaction.
But in the last few months the labor movement has shown us that this can more often than not be a very good thing, especially when you stand up for what’s right.
Lisa Simpson – “Union Strike Folk Song”
notes from a chair 