Don’t Forget the Writers Guild
It’s been about two months since the WGA began its strike against the AMPTP. Many of its own members, including Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have decided to forsake the Union that helped them get started in show business.
So I’ve decided to to forsake them, at least until the strike is over or they come around and stand up for those who’ve stood up for them. Because what they’re doing weakens the ability of their union to win what its members deserve.
It’s a lot like what happened a few years ago when Teamster-driven UPS trucks sailed right past the picket lines of PA Turnpike workers (not just fellow Union members, but fellow Teamsters). Our Union’s lack of solidarity hurt those turnpike workers, who could’ve gotten most, if not all, of what they were asking for if we’d all just stuck together.
But because we forsook our own brothers and sisters, they had to settle for less, much like what will happen if Leno, O’Brien, Stewart, Colbert, et al, regain the viewership their corporate masters so desperately need. And that means everyone who watches their half-baked, “unwritten”, scab broadcasts will be a party to selling out the writers as well.
Let’s return to our Teamster roots and not sell out our brothers and sisters, even if everyone else does.
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Filed under: WGA, solidarity, strikes, unionism
