I've requested more information on the WGA's stance in this case, but have not yet received it. UPDATE - the reasoning seems to be that if DGA enter talks, AMTP will ignore WGA until those talks are complete. As the basis of my argument is that this is exactly what is already happening, I still encourage the DGA to step to the table immediately.
At any rate, it is clear now, as it was before the Writers walked, that the AMPTP will not give the Writers anything significant in their current negotiations, unless and until the Studios know what deal they will have to make with DGA and SAG.
It is therefore imperative that SAG and DGA come to the bargaining table NOW, if there is to be any hope of this Strike ending soon.
As regular readers of this blog know, it is our belief that the strongest move and the shortest strike would have occurred if the WGA had waited until the SAG contract expired in an effort to have a "prefect storm strike."
Through the preemptive hubris of WGA leadership, this is no longer an option.
Our best bet now, then, is to bring the effects of the "perfect storm" to the present and get all sides to the bargaining table.
We would love to see WGA, DGA, and SAG sit together in negotiating sessions, which would bring some needed bargaining skills to the table, as well as eliminate the uncertainty which clouds the AMPTP dealings with WGA and bring true strength in numbers to the labor side of the contracts.
Barring that ideal, DGA and SAG should still immediately commence negotiations in an effort to avoid a strike by their unions, and finally bring about an end to the present one.
8 comments:
I think I have to quit posting over there on United Hollywood. That place is a psych ward.
There are definitely some whackos over there. I've considered not posting there anymore as well.
But the truth is it is a very popular blog and a lot of people are using it as their sole source of information on the strike.
Despite the nutjobs (on both sides of the argument) that post there, UH has been a generally good source of communication.
I wish that they could refrain from lumping all dissenting opinion into conspiracy-theory AMPTP plants, but that's the way it goes.
When we cut through the propaganda on both sides, and get to the truth, we can hopefully find a way out of this debacle...
Sometimes you just want to commisserate with other people who are experiencing the same thing as you are. United Hollywood is not a good place for that. You'll get no love over there. If you even mention being sad about losing your job you are going to get it big time. The next thing you know you're an AMPTP troll. As if a real live human could not actually be upset over losing their job. Even when hundreds of neutral workers come out for the strike-a-deal rally, they can't accept that we are real people. It's totally irrational and frustrating. I think I have to stay away. Maybe someone should start a blog that is strictly for BTL people that is not designed to be an open forum but rather a place to talk to one another about what is happening without being insulted and antagonized. Of course, the comments would have to be moderated.
It is disturbing that so many people are relying on UH as their main source of information. We BTL are not the enemy. But we are being treated as such. When a member of the general public goes there for information, they generally bring with them the idea that the writers are David and the AMPTP is goliath. I can understand this as I myself am suspicious towards corporations. But when they hear these conspiracy theories they are all to ready to accept them and assume that we really are tools. It sucks.
Yeah! I did it! I walked away from UH because I have had enough! I feel so good about leaving! I can breath again. Removing myself from that toxic air has been such a good decision for me. Very few people there really want to listen to anybody else's point of view and the whole thing just continues to degenerate. Even the posts on the main page have lost any pretense of civility.
I'm no longer interested in what the AMPTP says or what the writers say. I'm not ready to say that they can kill one another for all I care, but I am going to close my eyes and pretend that they have all just been launched on a rocket to deep space. I love that image. It just gets more and more quiet until...poof! Gone.
I'll have somebody call me when it's all over!
Good for you! Stay in touch with things through this site as well as traditional news outlets. Take everything with a grain of salt, always consider the source, and don't worry about what you can't change.
The spin cycle is so ridiculous right now, especially because there is nothing else going on.
Hopefully the other guilds will approach their negotiations a little more rationally, and we can all get back to work soon!
Good luck to you, and happy holidays.
Hopefully the other guilds will approach their negotiations a little more rationally, and we can all get back to work soon!
Good God, let's hope so!
I'm sticking to my promise not to visit UH. The only thing that I have done this a.m. is to read this article at the L.A. Times.
http://www.latimes.com/business/custom/admark/la-fi-strike12dec12,1,7201159.story?coll=la-headlines-business-advert
By the way, if you can tell me how to hyperlink this article, I will be grateful.
Anyway, the article is about growing the growing discontent of some of the writers that the WGA is not sticking to the original goals and is trying to organize the animators, etc. Of course, the WGA denies this and calls this a ploy by the AMPTP to give the illusion that there is a rift in the organization. That sounds very familiar, much like their contention that every BTL worker is thrilled with the strategy that they have taken.
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