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Writers Strike - Day 11
a writer’s perspective
I have a love/hate relationship with the “early shift”. I am not a morning person.
Looking for news about the strike on the internet this morning, I am confronted with the genius anti-writer argument "Should a plumber get paid every time a toilet flushes?" People please stop making that analogy. It's really not that clever, and it's flawed. If the plumber created a unique toilet from scratch, and then his bosses got hundreds of thousands of dollars every time the toilet flushed, then the plumber would absolutely be entitled to a little pocket change.
I'm cranky because it's not even 5am, and I've had maybe four hours sleep. But then I read some of the nice comments people have left on these posts, and I feel myself calming down. Thank you! Your kind words are like the honks of the internet.
As I park and head towards the sign-in table just before 6am, I spot a girl walking with cartons of Starbucks coffee for the writers. I offer to help out, and I carry the coffee over to the table. As I get there, I’m mobbed by writers thanking me for bringing them coffee. In this business, I’m used to people taking credit for something they didn’t do, but I’m not one of those people, so I divert the attention back to the girl.
As I take my place, walking in a circle, back and forth across Olive Ave., I say hello to one of my fellow strikers. He nods and tells me, “I ran out of small talk yesterday. I’m done.”
Every day, we run through the previous days headlines. Sorting through the minutiae can be tedious, but there is always one story or video that rises to the top.
Earlier this week, the youtube video of the studio heads gloating about how many billions they are going to make off the internet made the rounds in record time. Today, everyone is buzzing about the open letter from IATSE president Tom Short to WGA West president Patric Verrone, and the public bitchfest that’s ensued in its wake.
The relationship between IATSE and the WGA has always been a little tense. You may remember a while back when writers for America’s Next Top Model went on strike, demanding to have the show fall under WGA authority.
At the time, IATSE stepped in and negotiated jurisdiction over the workers. The result completely undermined the WGA’s ongoing attempt to organize reality television writers in the big picture.
Short’s letter basically blames the WGA for the “devastation” that is now taking its toll throughout the industry, which he maintains will cost the industry over a billion dollars, and contribute to the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs. He contends that the WGA has been strike-hungry since as early as September 2006.
In the letter, Short says he’s angry because he pleaded with Verrone to start negotiations early, but that Verrone refused. Short was further infuriated when the WGA pushed commencing negotiations from January to July of this year. He also personally attacks the WGA’s chief negotiator, Dave Young for statements Young made in a recent LA Times profile.
First of all, what possible reasons could Short have to write a public letter like this, at this point and time?
Is the purpose sincerely to convince the writers to end the strike? It’s a matter of public record that the writers have an outstanding offer and are waiting for the producers to agree to return to the table. If they won’t even meet with us, we can’t negotiate a contract and get back to work.
Short is smart enough to know that what his letter is realistically going to do, is help sway public opinion against the writers.
Short has often been a controversial leader. Look at the summary of the most recent contract he negotiated with the AMPTP for IATSE members here. It’s full of wage and benefit cuts. No wonder he’s loved by the studio heads, and inspires divisiveness amongst his members.
If we had started negotiations the day after the 2001 negotiations ended, we’d probably still be striking now. By never addressing any of the issues that were important to the writers, and by only putting rollbacks on the table, the AMPTP has shown that they are the ones who were hellbent on striking.
You can accuse us of having “strike-happy” leadership, but the fact remains that over 90% of the WGA voted to authorize this strike. We believe we are fighting for all the unions, so that hopefully no one else will have to go on strike. We have the support of SAG, Teamsters, and many other unions. In fact, I can tell you first hand, that we have the support of many IATSE members.
“It's time to put egos aside and recognize how crucial it is to get everyone back to work, before there is irreversible damage from which this industry can never recover.”
You said it, Tom Short. Stop taking potshots at Patric Verrone and Dave Young, and tell your buddies at the AMPTP to give us a call so we can put this to bed.
photo by Heath Biter for LAist