The Writers’ Strike, Solidarity and the Bayfront
By Al Shur, IBEW Local 569
The Writers Guild of America strike is now well into week two. The stagehands’ strike that has shut down Broadway is in full force. CBS news writers are expected to authorize a strike later this week and the Screen Actors Guild and Directors Guild of America could also end up on the picket lines in 2008 when their contracts are up for renegotiation.
While all these unions have their own priorities, the reason why workers will make the tough decision to take a huge financial risk and stand up against their employers boils down to two core demands: fair pay and respect. Whether you install plumbing, write sitcoms, assemble machinery or build theater sets, you deserve to make a living wage and you deserve to feel like you’re being treated with basic dignity.
Personally, I think the writers’ strike is justified and I think they’re going to get a better contract because they’ve decided to fight for a fair deal. But even with all the public support that they’re getting, I think it’s all the other unions standing in solidarity with the WGA that will force the producers back to the bargaining table. According to a statement by WGA president Patric M. Verrone, “Aside from SAG and the Teamsters, other unions are lining up to support us including Local 1877 SEIU, HERE Local 11, the ILWU, the National Writers Union (a UAW local), UHW-SEIU, and our sister Guilds in Canada, Australia, Great Britain, and New Zealand.”
Solidarity plays an essential role in the struggles of organized labor, because it’s much easier for the bosses to use scabs to break strikes when workers don’t stand united.
Besides the principle of supporting fellow workers, solidarity can result in very tangible, long-term benefits. Right now, many directors and actors understand that the studios will try to bully them the same way they’ve tried to steamroll the writers, which is one of the reasons why they’re hoisting pickets along with their brothers and sisters from the WGA. They want to help the writers set a precedent for fair contracts in the entertainment industry.
This is why we’re having success in building a coalition of unions and allies to defend the bayfront from Gaylord’s terrible plan. This struggle isn’t just about one project: when developers see that they can force a bad deal on a community (like Gaylord’s plan to take over $300 million in subsidies with no guarantee to hire local workers), you can guarantee that they’re going to exploit the situation for everything they can get.
This isn’t just about electrical workers. Gaylord brought in 200 Jamaicans to fill service jobs at their Opryland Hotel in Nashville so they could weasel out of paying their workers benefits and decent wages. Will they do the same in Chula Vista? The only way to ensure Gaylord hires local workers first is to have their “signature” on a legally enforceable document covering the construction workforce.
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