Things are moving on a variety of fronts in the WGA strike.  While the AMPTP stalls and makes baseless charges, the Guild is trying some novel approaches.  Not only have they filed an unfair labor practices charge against the AMPTP for walking away from a good-faith negotiation, they are challenging the very idea of bargaining with a cartel like the AMPTP itself.

Confronted with a logjam in its contract talks with the studios, the Writers Guild of America is trying a new tack: Divide and conquer.

On Monday, the union representing 10,500 striking writers plans to approach the major companies of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers about negotiating with them individually, a move aimed at exploiting perceived cracks in the alliance and getting at least some of the studios back to the bargaining table.

“We want to do everything in our power to move negotiations forward and end this devastating strike,” the guild’s negotiating committee said in a letter to be sent to union members today. “The internal dynamics of the [alliance] make it difficult for the conglomerates to reach consensus and negotiate with us on a give-and-take basis.”

This approach is already bearing fruit.  David Letterman’s company, Worldwide Pants Inc., has agreed to negotiate their own deal with the writers .  Because Letterman owns his program (as well as Late Night with Craig Ferguson), he can break with the AMPTP cartel and make this deal.

(I just want to step in and say that AMPTP.com is maybe the funniest parody site I’ve seen in a long time.)

But all is not well.  With the AMPTP furious over these cracks in their united front (some would call it collusion), they’ve leaned on some of their stars to return to work.

Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien will return to late-night TV with fresh episodes on Jan. 2, two months after the writers’ strike sent them into repeats, the network said Monday.

The “Tonight” show and “Late Night” will return without writers supplying jokes. NBC said the decision was similar to what happened in 1988, when Johnny Carson brought back the “Tonight” show two months into a writers’ strike.

A similar return – with writers – appears in the works for David Letterman. The union representing striking writers said over the weekend that it was willing to negotiate deals with individual production companies, including Letterman’s Worldwide Pants.

It’s disappointing that Leno and O’Brien aren’t willing to hold out and see the big picture, but of course they are under contract.  It’s telling that this move was made as soon as Letterman signaled his intention to strike a deal with the writers.

However, in contrast to this action, it appears that the writer’s strike is opening up eyes about what it means to work in this country, about what it means to stand together for worker’s rights.  The DGA, after flirting with starting negotiations with the AMPTP, has demurred.  The writers are promoting separate labor issues like the plight of FedEx workers being called “independent contractors” so management can avoid providing benefits.  And they’re aiding in significant victories for the worker’s rights movement.

In a memo issued this afternoon, MTV Networks performed a near-180, relenting to complaints from freelancers who were told last week their benefits would be cut. “We’ve implemented a process for evaluating freelance and temporary employee positions for possible conversion to staff positions,” reads the announcement from JoAnne Griffith, MTVN’s executive vice president for HR. “This process is currently underway.” Freelancers will now have the choice to continue with their current health plan-including dental!-or sign on to MTV’s Aetna plan. Either way, they won’t have to make the decision until February of next year, nearly three months after the original deadline set by the company last week.

The writer’s strike is one of the most high-profile labor actions of the last 30 years.  It’s crystallizing a lot of ideas about basic fairness for workers.  This is maybe the most positive by-product of this important action.

Last post on this today I promise.  This is new information and California specific.  Courtesy of Jane Hamsher of Fire Dog Lake I have this quote from Anastasia Ordonez at the California Labor Federation.  Jane called them to inquire about the status of Chris Lehane’s contract with the Fed on health care and passed it off to me, given the California angle.

He’s been a close labor ally for many years, so we’re looking into this but I’m not going to comment on what our relationship will be in the future.

Ordonez stated that their contract with Chris Lehane was terminated around Thanksgiving, because they were not sure what they were going to do with regards to health care.  That makes sense, since the health care negotiations were ongoing, rather than completely falling apart and there was not a huge need to have a guy like Lehane around.

The California Labor Federation maintains a blacklist of contractors for situations like this one, where someone goes to work directly against the labor movement.  They can only add someone to that blacklist if a Local requests it.  WGA is not a member, therefore they cannot make that request.

SEIU has been much closer to the WGA than the members of the Labor Fed and AFL-CIO, thus it is not that surprising to see them moving more slowly than Change to Win and SEIU.

Here is a brief overview of the Fed via their website.

The California Labor Federation is the state AFL-CIO, with more than 1,200 affiliated local unions, representing 2.1 million union members in diverse communities and sectors of the state’s economy. Manufacturing, service, retail, construction, public sector and private industry unions join together in the Federation to protect and advance the rights and interests of all California workers.

Having the Fed put Lehane on the blacklist would obviously be a pretty big deal.  If they do, I will be sure to blog it up.

kos has a statement from Change to Win.

Change to Win had a general consulting contract with Chris Lehane. That contract was terminated upon discovery of his role supporting the studios in the writers guild strike. As you know, Change to Win and its affiliates stand solidly behind the writers in their struggle for fairness, so we did not think twice about this decision.

That means Lehane has lost two contracts thus far: SEIU Local 99 and Change to Win.

Change to Win includes SEIU, Teamsters, UNITE-HERE and the Laborers.

Suicide Girls is claiming that the contract Chris Lehane has with AMPTP is worth $100,000.

The studios hired Fabiani & Lehane, at a crisis fee of around $100,000 a month, to battle the WGA members driven PR machine. They did so early in the week, which was another telling sign that they had no intention of making a deal. You don’t need “crisis PR” when you are doing the right thing. You hire “crisis PR” when you are going to walk out of talks and blame the other side for ruining Christmas. So, Lehane and Fabiani, longtime Democratic PR guys, have decided to switch sides and do some union busting. I guess they have come a long way since 2002.

No idea yet if they have lost more than they gained by signing this contract with AMPTP.

Jane Hamsher has the scoop over at Fire Dog Lake.

SEIU Local 99 in Los Angeles — education workers who include teacher’s aids, cafeteria workers and crossing guards — have fired former Clinton spokesman Chris Lehane from a consulting contract in support of the WGA .

“By the end of the week, I believe Chris Lehane will have no union clients because of his work for the AMPTP,” says SEIU President Andy Stern, who confirms that all Change to Win Unions are severing ties with Lehane. “His days are numbered in the labor movement.”

Chris Lehane by opting to go to work for the studios made a choice between that contract and those from labor.  SEIU has been working to support the writers, so it comes as no surprise that they are the first to fire him.  The question now is how quickly the other unions follow suit.  As noted here back in October, the California Labor Federation hired Lehane to work on health care reform, outside of the IOHC coalition.  I do not know what other unions he is under contract with, though we should hopefully find out soon.

While Stern is not my favorite right now, given his meddling in health care and a power struggle at the SEIU State Council that Brian has documented, this is a very strong and useful statement by him.

See also kos on Chris Lehane being fired by Local 99.

UPDATE by Dave on the flip:

UPDATE: Lehane probably has a place waiting for him at Bush’s Department of Labor:

Political operatives in the Department of Labor are using federal reporting requirements to undermine trade unions and conduct a “political misinformation campaign” against them, a report released yesterday charges.

While the Bush administration has generally relaxed federal regulations, the department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards has done the reverse, beefing up disclosure rules, staff and investigations of union leaders and members, the study by the left-leaning Center for American Progress said.

The study criticized the reporting requirements as designed to overwhelm unions with paperwork and trick them into noncompliance. It also accused the office of inflating the number of criminal cases involving union leaders and members.

The report was triggered by the office’s latest requirement, new conflict-of-interest reports that, as of Jan. 1, would require a broad pool of union members to attest that even their car loans do not constitute a potential conflict.

The head hatchet man in the office right now is Don Todd, who came up with the Willie Horton ad.  Come on, Lehane, you can be dirtier than him!

[UPDATE] by Julia. Courtesy of Trapper John over at dkos remember this Grover Norquist quote.

Every dollar that is spent [by labor unions] on disclosure and reporting is a dollar that can’t be spent on other labor union activities.

We learned yesterday that Chris Lehane used to do damage control for the corporation trying to limit PR fallout from massive health and safety violations while building the eastern span of the Bay Bridge in San Francisco.  He’s currently plying his trade as a paid shill for studios and networks who have the simple goal of busting the Hollywood labor movement.  

Writers, (WGA head Patric Verrone) said, were looking to restore a sense of leverage and status that had been lost as ever-larger corporations took control of the entertainment business. He described Hollywood as teetering on the brink of a dark age, as far as creative types were concerned. “I think if they could do this business without us, they would, and so making our task as mechanical and simple and low-paying and unartistic as possible,” Mr. Verrone said.

The solution, he added, was to squeeze the corporations that own the studios, in an effort to represent the legion of writers on reality and animated shows that the guild had not organized through sign-up drives […]

Accusing guild leaders of pursuing “an ideological mission far removed from the interests of their members,” representatives of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers expressed outrage over continuing demands of the writers that were not strictly related to pay.

These include requests for jurisdiction over those who write for reality TV shows and animated movies; for oversight of the fair-market value of intracompany transactions that might affect writer pay; and the elimination of a no-strike clause that prevents guild members from honoring the picket lines of other unions once a contract is reached.

The tone of shock in the producers’ statement seemed a bit artificial, as Mr. Verrone has for months laid out his plan to elevate the writers’ industry status.

This is the part where Lehane picked up the story and started writing it from his suite.

Yet their anger is genuine. Executives know that to concede the writers’ noneconomic demands would lead to a radical shift in industry power.

Riiight.  See, now it’s conglomerates 99.999999%, employees 0.000001%.  If you actually gave the same benefits to everyone who generates a script, whether they did so before or after the shoot, that would shoot up to .000009%!  That’s a 9-fold increase!

And the other complaint, that a no-strike clause would be a death knell to the business, is absurd.  This is a classic strategy of divide and conquer.  Forcing union members to work and not honor another union’s strike is an attempt at isolation and union busting.  This city’s unions don’t get along that well; often they’re competing for membership (IATSE’s leader just blasted the WGA because they have some animation writers in their stable and they don’t want to lose them).  Furthermore, on any given day 1 out of 3 industry workers are unemployed.  There’s already little incentive for solidarity, and the studios want to eliminate that even further.

Let me introduce you to a new word: permalance.  I know it because I’ve been one, on several occasions.  In no other business that I know can you be working for 40 hours a week at one company for several months and not be a permanent employee.  MTV workers just learned the hard way why conglomerates do this: because it gives you no leverage.

Scores of workers from MTV Networks walked off the job yesterday afternoon, filling the sidewalk outside the headquarters of its corporate parent, Viacom, to protest recent changes in benefits.

Freelance workers from MTV Networks outside the headquarters of the company’s corporate parent, Viacom, Monday.

The walkout highlighted the concerns of a category of workers who are sometimes called permalancers: permanent freelancers who work like full-time employees but do not receive the same benefits.

Waving signs that read “Shame on Viacom,” the workers, most of them in their 20s, demanded that MTV Networks reverse a plan to reduce health and dental benefits for freelancers beginning Jan. 1.

In a statement, MTV Networks noted that its benefits program for full-time employees had also undergone changes, and it emphasized that the plan for freelancers was still highly competitive within the industry. Many freelancers receive no corporate benefits.

In other words, you’re lucky you get anything at all, so STFU.

The media business has being playing this game for years, and because most of their employees are too young to know the difference, there’s been little outcry.  The WGA labor action is shining a bright light on the practices of this industry, which is a massive profit-maker globally.  At some point, you get sick and tired of being pushed around.

The AP calls the new contract proposal from the studios to the WGA a sweetened offer.  The United Hollywood blog says otherwise.

That big, amazing proposal that the companies hinted to Nikki Finke was coming? Well, it came.

Turns out their exciting, groundbreaking proposal is… a residual rollback. And not just any rollback, one of the biggest in the history of the Guild. Then, stunningly, the companies have the balls to say their plan gives us more compensation. Well, I’m sorry, but If you take away a dollar and give me a nickel, the nickel ain’t a raise. Somewhere, Nick Counter’s first-grade math teacher is embarrassed […]

When an hourlong episode of television is streamed on the Internet, writers would get a flat $250 payment for one year of reuse. That’s $250 as opposed to, for example, $20,000 per episode when it’s reused on network television. They proposed nothing new on downloads, it’s still the DVD formula for those (ie. two-thirds of a penny for an iTunes download). For theatrical movies, they’re offering exactly $0.00 on streaming. Oh, and they want to be able to define any content they like as “promotional” — for which they would pay zero dollars. Even if they stream an entire film or tv episode, and even if they sell ads on it, they can call that promotional and pay us nothing.

Looks to me like the AMPTP responded to the positive public opinion generated by the writers by trying to get public opinion on their side over their “generous offer,” and subsequently call the writers “whiners” or something when they refuse to accept it.  With the information out now, that’s not likely to happen.

Though there’s been a news blackout from the bargaining table, many in the entertainment community are cheered by Nikki Finke’s report that a deal is imminent in the 4 week-old writer’s strike.  Her source makes sense, saying that the agents have brokered this; they have a stake in both writer profits and studio profits, not to mention getting production back in gear again. 

However, in the wake of this impending deal we should not forget about the forgotten writer’s strike of 2006.  I’ve been saying from the beginning that the strategy of the WGA, to get as much as they can for current members instead of growing the membership, is fatally flawed, and will result in a constriction of revenue for writers as less and less spots on the TV schedule will require them.  Daniel Blau came forward last week with the inside story:

In the early summer of 2006, only one of the “Top Model” writers was involved in the union campaign. The rest of us were, at best, tangentially aware of its existence. Until, that is, the afternoon of June 21. That was the date of our first official meeting with WGA organizers. Over lunch at a Tex-Mex restaurant in Santa Monica, they spelled out the manifold benefits of guild representation: health insurance, pension contributions and credits for our work. The industry was ready for reality story editors to enter the WGA, they said. Les Moonves — head of CBS, which owned the new CW network — had been “put on notice.” There was no talk of losing our jobs. We believed the guild’s ambiguous promise, “you’ll come out of this better than you went in.”

Why only “Top Model?” one co-worker asked. Why not all reality shows? “‘Big Brother’ is ready to go out,” they told us. “So is ‘The Amazing Race.’ But you need to start the ball rolling.” We would be the vanguard. Our fellow reality scribes would take to the street inspired by our courage, they said. They bought us lunch […]

The next morning, July 20, in front of our production offices in West Los Angeles, I read our statement to about 100 supporters and the news crews, officially launching our strike. We hoisted our WGA strike signs and never entered those offices again. In the weeks to come, our supporters would dwindle, then disappear.

The last week of September, we all received letters notifying us that our jobs had been eliminated, the entire story department abolished. The guild had vanished from our cause, and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, which represents the video editors, swooped in to unionize the show, freezing the WGA out of “Top Model” for good.

The lack of organizing for nonfiction and reality shows has given the studios a powerful fallback position which represents 25% of this season’s network schedule, and will only grow if writer benefits expand in a new contract.  This strike is noble, and from a public relations standpoint, the WGA has hit a home run.  The organizing strategy is simply flawed, and I’m not sanguine about the prospects for the future.

On Oct. 23 of this year, with talks stalled between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, Variety published an article summed up by this headline: “WGA gives up on nonscripted effort.” Organizing reality TV writers was one of the contract demands that the WGA was willing to toss aside to reach a deal before the Nov. 1 strike deadline, the article reported.

The next day, an e-mail with the expected rebuttal arrived from the WGA president. The guild’s reality TV efforts were as strong as ever, he said. But as far as I could tell, the only error in the Variety article was that it hadn’t been published a year earlier.

So let’s hope there’s a resolution in the offing, but one that recognizes that any show with a script – and every show I’ve ever worked on has one, be it fiction, nonfiction, reality, game show, whatever – deserves benefits for whoever created it.

(Pretty awesome to see Edwards walking the line in support of the writers. – promoted by David Dayen)

(Crossposted from DailyKos)

I am going to apologize ahead of time because this diary is going to be a bit, well a lot, fan-girly. If you want substance, this isn’t it. Keep moving.

I’ve never met Edwards in person before. I’ve supported him since 2004 and have missed a few opportunities to see him in person. Yesterday I was lucky, very lucky. I went to the picket line for the WGA where Edwards came to lend his support.

But for the moment, enough about me.

Edwards came to walk the picket line with the WGA, Writers Guild Association, who have been on strike since November 6th. Edwards is the first presidential candidate to picket personally with the writers after releasing a statement of support last week.  Obama and Clinton have also released statements in support of the strikers.

Edwards Statement:

“The striking Writers Guild members are fighting an important battle to protect their creative rights. These writers deserve to be compensated fairly for their work, and I commend their courage in standing up to big media conglomerates. As someone who has walked picket lines with workers all across America and as a strong believer in collective bargaining, I hope that both sides are able to quickly reach a just settlement.”

Obama Statement:

“I stand with the writers. The Guild’s demand is a test of whether media corporations are going to give writers a fair share of the wealth their work creates or continue concentrating profits in the hands of their executives.”

Clinton Statement:

“Writers Guild’s pursuit of a fair contract that pays them for their work in all mediums. I hope the producers and writers will return to the bargaining table to work out an equitable contract that keeps our entertainment industry strong and recognizes the contributions writers make to the success of the industry.”

The event yesterday, from my fan girly perspective.

I arrived early and made a new friend while waiting for the ridiculously long crosswalk light to change. Her name is Janice and she is a writer and member of SAG – and she is an Edwards’ supporter who came out especially to see him. She said that his coming was the extra “reason” to come out to the picket line. I asked her why Edwards and she said that his work with Unions, (naturally) is really the reason she is supporting him. She appreciates his “outspokenness” on the issue and mentioned that for her, he is the only candidate.

I had prepared myself by bringing along a bag of the JRE08 and Elizabeth for First Lady Lapel Pins that I designed some months back and was very happy to give her a couple. She insisted on buying the pair, which I thought was very generous considering the strike, and I assured her it would go to the campaign which it turns out she had been donating small donation to as often as she could.

When we arrived at the corner the crowd was still small and we were able to find out which direction Edwards would be coming, however as the time grew near the crowd swelled into quite a large scene of excited anticipation, noisy but yet harmonic car horns and crazy I-have-no-idea-what-you-are-saying-chants. Press passes were beginning to materialize and some important-people types were milling around discussing strategy. “He’ll come down here and then we’ll have him step up right here…”

We’ll “right here” folks was right where I was and if I didn’t move, they were planning on depositing Senator Edwards into my lap.

Not that I’d mind.

But I figured I’d have to move.

But they would have to “make me” move and I was quite determined that they couldn’t do that.

So in the meantime, I listened to conversations which were very pro-Edwards. I made some more friends with the CBS, NBC and independent (MSNBC, CNN??) news people. We talked about Edwards and I found out that they were either for Edwards or they were Independent – I gave them JRE08 pins but skipped the Elizabeth pins cuz they are manly men types. Although one did mention he really loved Elizabeth.

I also was able to overhear an interview with Assemblyman Paul Krekorian (D-43rd California) who was asked at the end of the interview; “John Edwards coming out today, photo-op or real?” To which Krekorian replied that Edwards was “for real” and gave a lengthy positive answer about Edwards and everything he has done for Unions and Union workers. Very nice answer indeed.

So now we come to the juice.

I climbed onto this cement planter with several of the camera/video guys and immediately noticed the crowd was starting to move into a tight group a little off in the distance. I said “He must be here!” and several camera men took off towards the crowd after asking me to save their spot.

Like I was leaving. I knew the plan.

And sure enough, a few minutes later here comes Edwards and true to the important-peoples word, he climbed onto the planter – RIGHT NEXT TO ME!

No, not on my lap I’m sorry to say.

But, OMG!!! 

Inside I was squealing like a 13 year old at a Britney Spears concert, I swear, but I held it together, I think. I took a picture and then realized there was a wall of cameras and unless they had Edwards on a super-tight close up I was probably in the frame, so. I put my camera down and tried to clap but I was balancing myself (now in the dirt and no longer on the cement part) between a tree and the several 10 or 12 people pushing from the side and behind me – but I managed to fend them and the tree off and cheered with the crowd.

Smiling like an idiot I’m sure.

I hope my hair was OK.

I was wearing my JRE08 shirt.

And my Elizabeth pin.

Oh, his speech!

Yeah, that, well…

Three minutes or so of a great supportive go-get ’em, speech, not a candidate vote-for-me speech, just I’m-here-with-you speech. He talked about the corporate lobbyists and about corporations trouncing on the working people, standing with workers every day as president, other stuff – well I didn’t take notes people. I mean, my God – he was right in front of me! I expected the first time I’d see him was from like 100 feet away not like, well, almost (dammit) in my lap!

I can’t believe you expected me to remember what he said.

Impossible to please you people are.

I hope my hair looked OK.

Oh, the crowd loved him. Cheered like crazy. From the buzz of conversation they were very happy that he came out to lend his support – I didn’t hear a single negative word. He really did sound great and you just can’t capture the magnetism on TV like you can in person. Really quite incredible.

Now for the kicker.

After the speech he turned right around, looked me in the eye and gave a big smile. And then he grabbed my hand…

Oh, geez…

I hope my hair looked OK.

Sigh…

An experience I won’t forget. I shook the hand of the next President of the United States!

I hope to be at the next event scheduled today. Hope to see some Kossaks out there. Look for the swooning blond in the JRE08 shirt…

Event News:

Today, Saturday the 17th, John Edwards will be taking part in the Presidential Forum on Global Warming at the Wadsworth Theatre in Los Angeles (on the VA grounds) 11301 Wilshire Blvd. West Los Angeles, CA 90073
12:30 Rally at NE corner, intersection of San Vicente & Wilshire Blvd.
1:30 Presidential Forum
2:30 Edwards will come out to meet the crowd.

Here are my pics, you can see how close I was!

UPDATE with video.

Thanks to NCDemAmy who posted the video below.
Courtesy of the WGA.

And here is me in the background being jostled around.

Other labor leaders are coalescing around the writer’s strike because they know that a hig-profile action like this will have positive benefits for them, and might actually start a conversation about union representation in America.  If the adage of “If it’s not on TV, it didn’t happen” holds true, then “If it’s stopping TV, it’s REALLY happening” holds even truer.  Joss Whedon explains:

“The trappings of a union protest…” You see how that works? Since we aren’t real workers, this isn’t a real union issue. (We’re just a guild!) […] this IS a union issue, one that will affect not just artists but every member of a community that could find itself at the mercy of a machine that absolutely and unhesitatingly would dismantle every union, remove every benefit, turn every worker into a cowed wage-slave in the singular pursuit of profit. (There is a machine. Its program is ‘profit’. This is not a myth.) This is about a fair wage for our work. No different than any other union. The teamsters have recognized the importance of this strike, for which I’m deeply grateful. Hopefully the Times will too.

I love the cross-union solidarity that this strike has engendered.  It’s not just the Teamsters; Steve Carell single-handedly shut down The Office, for example.  And now Hillary Clinton has joined other Democratic Presidential hopefuls with a strong statement of support.

“I support the Writers Guild’s pursuit of a fair contract that pays them for their work in all mediums. I hope the producers and writers will return to the bargaining table to work out an equitable contract that keeps our entertainment industry strong and recognizes the contributions writers make to the success of the industry.”

No talks have been scheduled, as the studios appear to be preferring a “bleed them out” strategy, despite the WGA already conceding on expanding DVD residuals.  While I still feel that jurisdiction and expanding membership should be a strong part of any final deal, clearly the writers deserve a fair share of the profits they are instrumental in creating.

The Writers Guild of America took to the streets today, beginning what promises to be a long strike in one of the largest industries in California.  I couldn’t be more in support of the people who are the lifeblood of Hollywood, the creative personnel that are the engine of the last vibrant manufacturing industry in America.  Unfortunately, I’m getting the sense that their leadership is falling back on an old union strategy of securing benefits for their existing membership rather than allowing their membership to grow, and this will have disastrous consequences for the future of the labor movement.

Two and a half years ago, I wrote a post, It’s the Unions, Stupid, which documented my experience at a Writers Guild meeting dedicated to organizing reality and nonfiction television storytellers. 

Yes, a lot of reality television is slipshod, exploitative and dumbed-down. But people don’t understand that the rank-and-file who work in it are often being as exploited as the contestants. Reality is big because of its low costs, mainly because, unlike scripted shows, it is not unionized. This has become a bargaining chip for the networks in their dealings with the Writer’s Guild, Director’s Guild, and others: take our crappy contract, or we’ll just make more reality shows.

Reality show workers make less than their counterparts in scripted TV. They work largely on weekly salaries, usually for no overtime, yet during stressful parts of production 16-hour days and weekend work are all too typical. Their credits are so amorphous that they bear no relation to the actual job worked. If a reality show is sold to another network for use in reruns, none of the workers see any residual fees. They have no employer-paid health care or pensions, and as freelancers on short-term assignments, they have little or no job security. 1 out of every 3 TV and film industry professionals are out of work on any given day in Hollywood (just go to a coffee shop at 2:30 on a Wednesday for proof).

This probably sounds whiny to many, and actually, it should. Most of these people are well-paid for the work that they do. Of course, that’s mainly because of the power of collective bargaining. The sundry labor unions have forced Hollywood to share its profits with its employees, with very few exceptions. But while reality television workers do benefit from that to a degree, they are the crack in the dike that allows the networks to cash in.

Along with hundreds of others, I signed a card at that time, in May 2005, allowing the WGA to negotiate on my behalf.  These negotiations ran up against a brick wall.  There were a couple high-profile meetings and protests.  Nothing.  There were lawsuits against production companies who were making their employees work 18-hour days, falsifying time cards, changing start dates and delaying productions that cost the employees thousands of dollars.  They resulted in brief reconciliations that were eventually rolled back.  There was a high-profile strike last year by the writer-producers of America’s Next Top Model.  The editors, who were unionized through IATSE, didn’t honor the picket line, the season of shows were finished, and those writers were not brought back the following season.  There was talk of a “wage-and-hour” campaign, to sue the production companies for overtime pay.  It never materialized.

The light at the end of the tunnel was the coming negotiations on a new contract.  Many thought that organizing reality and nonfiction storytellers would be a key bargaining chip.  After all, in the event of a strike, the studios could simply ramp their nonunion shows into production and move forward with business as usual.  So to avert the same thing happening far into the future, it made sense for the WGA to take a stand now, expand their membership, and leave the studios with less wiggle room to make a schedule during subsequent threats to walk out.  Indeed, this is exactly what the studios are saying is their alternative now.

Prime-time schedules would appear relatively unchanged for a couple of months, since a handful of episodes have already been prepared. But if the strike drags on the 2008 schedule will be heavy on reality shows (not covered by the current contracts) and reruns […]

Though CW Entertainment Chief Dawn Ostroff says they’re prepared, with new reality series like Farmer Wants a Wife and Crowned waiting in the wings, she, too, sees no advantage to striking: “It’s just better for everyone if habits aren’t broken and if people that are getting into characters and shows are able to continue to do so.”

I’m not at the bargaining table, so I can only go by the many reports I’ve seen, but it appears to me that the WGA is holding the line on DVD and Internet residuals.  Now, those are important issues that must be part of an overall agreement.  But the difference between those benefits discussions and expanding membership to other programming mirrors the central debate within the labor community; should they get as much for the dwindling numbers of union members they have, or should the focus be on expanding membership?  This is the schism that caused the SEIU and other unions to leave the AFL-CIO and form the Change To Win coalition.  Andy Stern and the other new-labor leaders firmly believe that the old paradigm is failing America, where union membership has declined to a great degree over the past 50 years.  If you give management a lifeline, a way to get their work done without having to deal with a union, they’re going to take it.  There are significantly less situation comedies in production than there were ten years ago.  There are less dramas, too, at least at the network level.

I hear the criticism that reality shows are cheap and tawdry and a major factor in the decline of Western civilization.  To a large extent I agree with it.  But if you hate reality shows, the number one thing you should hope for is that they become organized.  Ratings are only a small part of the story of reality’s success; with the exception of American Idol, that growth has leveled off.  It’s the enormous difference in production costs that has led to the burgeoning of the genre, and that’s entirely attributable to the fact that they’re nonunion.  The chain of TV and entertainment can only be as strong as its weakest link.  And I believe that, by foregrounding the monetary issues and not fighting to expand the membership, the WGA is undergoing the wrong strategy for the future, one that will ensure that their members have less opportunities to practice their craft.

United Hollywood is giving constant updates, as well as the LA Times’ Hollywood Writers blog.  I will support the strike in any way possible.  But I wish that the leadership would understand the need for a new-labor strategy, to increase the fortunes of the middle class and ensure that nobody is left behind.