Writer’s Strike – Another View
January 18, 2008 by Anne Wayman
Filed under Jobs
Mike Sieber, who blogs at The Word Wrangler, is opposed to the writer’s strike and spells out his thinking in a post called: Why I Don’t Support the Writer’s Strike Goddess I appreciate clear writing, and Mike makes his position abundantly clear.
He’s a conservative who believes we all are in charge of our own destiny. I guess that means, and he didn’t say this, that he also believes we all start on something close to a level playing field. The thing I never understand about this sort of argument is how I, as an individual, am on a level playing field with a corporation. Just look at the difference in tax rates for wage earners and corporations as a starting point. How about the subsidies the governments (sometimes federal, sometimes state and sometimes local) give corporations to build sports stadiums, big box stores, and the like. To my mind that smacks of corporate welfare, but I digress.
Mike points out, and he’s right, that the rules are set by the corporations. He also seems to think that everyone can start their own business and succeed. But I wonder if that’s true. What about retail clerks, or miners, or auto workers, or postal workers. We need these people… I mean you and I need them, and it seems much of this kind of work needs to be organized by others… store owners, mine owners, car companies, the government.
If that’s true, as a retail clerk, etc. I can switch jobs and when the antitrust laws worked, I had some chance of getting a better job. Of course, I’d point out that the reasons we don’t have child labor and we have some workplace safety is because of unions, period. Since many of the corporations are both large and wealthy, it only makes sense to me that people who work for them should be able to band together to demand fairness.
What do you think?
Write well and often,
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Anne, you bring up some very valid points, but where I think your argument is flawed is the notion of a level playing field. There is not now, nor will there ever be, a level playing field. No matter how hard well-intentioned people try to create one, this cosmos is designed with unfairness built in.
Some people are simply more talented than others at birth. Not fair, but that’s life. Some will achieve greatness while others will remain retail clerks. Not fair, but that’s life.
And no matter what we do, the playing field is never going to be equal for everyone. I like to use the New England Patriots as an example. All teams play on the same size field, under the same rules, with the same time constraints, wearing the same equipment. But one team is just two games away from having a perfect, undefeated season. It’s not fair, but it’s life.
Gosh, Mike, do I have to turn in my liberal ID now? Cause I mostly agree with you. ;)
Mike, oops… I inferred from your post that you thought there was a level playing field… no, you didn’t say that, but somehow I took that from the “everyone can start a business” attitude.
Of course there isn’t a level playing field… now, what about the rest of it? What about corporations, and government welfare?
I’m all for leveling the playing field. Isn’t collective bargaining (such as the writer’s strike) a way of doing that? Maybe the abundant talent with which some folks are born has more to do with bargaining than with writing.
Could be, John, and yes, collective bargaining is, imo, about making things more even… little guy in numbers v. big guy corporation.
Here’s the thing, though: How many of us would refuse to cross the picket line if a really well-paying job hung in the balance? That’s always the problem with freelance writers; we often don’t have the resources to make our bargaining very effective…and there’s usually somebody standing in line right behind us to take the job for little or no money just to get published and get a foot in the door. I think those striking writers deserve a lot of credit for courage and conviction…but I don’t hold out a lot of hope for their success in the long run.
Yes, John, those who aren’t crossing the line deserve lots of credit… I hope I wouldn’t cross… but I’m not where I even get to make that decision.
Unions are interesting creatures.
I grew up in the rural south where unions were much moreso Norma Rae – the kind you are speaking about, Anne, where a lot of really important changes were made as a result of union activity.
However, I now live in Philadelphia, a city that is often paralyzed by greedy union workers who scream in the name of their “fair share.” I think, as a result, I’m not sure what anybody’s “fair share” is anymore.
And that’s part of what’s muddying these talks, I think. There is so much baggage that comes along with unions these days that it’s hard to understand what’s really at stake.
For the record, I used to belong to a union. When I taught at college, I was forced to contribute to the union as part of the “collective bargaining” discussions. I found much of it to be distasteful and no more than schoolyard bullying – these bargains actually resulted in some of my part time colleagues being forced out of their positions so that someone less qualified but “full time” could have “job security.”
These talks aren’t happening in a vacuum. Our individual interactions with unions and collective bargaining influence how we all view the bigger picture.
Kelly, so what do you see as the solution… if not unions, what?
I think that they need a little PR.
Many of the writers that I know – writers, mind you, who should care about what happens – are taking the position that the striking writers are greedy. There’s a lot of negativity floating around that isn’t helping the cause…
1, There’s a perception that Hollywood writers get paid a lot of money, no matter what level you are at. I know this isn’t true but the perception is there. I’m surprised not to see more of an effort to combat this issue.
2, The strike affects more than just the writers. Think of the actors, the caterers, the crew… Again, the perception is that the strike is selfish because you hear more about the negative impact on others in the industry than the writers themselves.
3, The *Hollywood effect* is not helping the cause. While I understand that folks like Tina Fey and Steve Carrell are writers as well as actors, they perpetuate this idea that the writers don’t need the money.
Why aren’t there real life writers telling their sides of the story?
Perhaps they’re dependent upon the unions to do their talking for them (in fact, in some unions, management forbids members from discussing strikes, pay, etc. with the press).
Or maybe they don’t understand what they’re really striking for (in a recent transit strike, the rallying cry in public was “better pay” but the real negotiation issue was health care benefits).
I don’t know why it feels like the writers are strangely silent. Look at your blog – the comments, considering the length and size of the strike (and the popularity of your blog) are limited.
And, again, to be clear, I’m not saying that unions are bad. I’m saying that some unions have given the whole a fairly negative perception.
And the WGA doesn’t seem to want to change that. Curious, no?
Kelly, thanks for your thoughtful response. I simply don’t have much experience in this area… I’m off and on a member of the National Writers Union (nwu.org) but we’re not a striking union… or at least I don’t think we are… we don’t have enough collective clout… some success with certain kinds of negotiations…
The other thing that occurs to me is that for a long time we workers more or less felt the major problems were solved… and now we’re finding them back again and some of the unions have gotten fat… sigh.