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| Socialist
Party Statements: Statement of Support for the Screenwriters
Strike |
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SOCIALIST PARTY USA STATEMENT OF SUPPORT
FOR THE SCREENWRITERS STRIKE
by the SPUSA Labor Commission
When the irreverent early 20th century comedian W.C. Fields was once
caught reading the bible he explained that he was “looking for some
loopholes.” On Monday November 5th, 12,000 members of the Writers
Guild of America (WGA) took a bold strike action to sew up some of the
loopholes which have allowed the entertainment industry to make
exorbitant profits from their labor. The Socialist Party USA
(SP-USA) stands with the WGA and calls upon the Association of Motion
Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) to concede to the WGA’s
demands for a just contract.
Unlike the often inebriated actor Fields, the AMPTP has found many
profitable loopholes. While screenwriters are paid industry rates
for work aired in traditional media venues such as television and
movies, they receive only a small fraction of the profits generated in
the “new” media outlets of DVD sales and internet based
programming. Writers currently receive only 5 cents per unit for
the sale of a DVD. For entertainment delivered via internet
streaming video WGA members receive only 1.2% of gross revenue.
There is also currently no language in the contract regarding the
producer’s right to insert product placements into WGA member created
scripts.
Such practices amount to a patently unfair pattern of labor
exploitation. Demands by the WGA seek minor modifications to the
existing contract. Rates for the sale of DVD’s would double to 10
cents per unit. Internet based programming would increase to 2.5%
of gross revenue and writers would have greater control over the
placement of products into their scripts. The AMPTP should return
to the bargaining table immediately and agree to these quite reasonable
demands.
The potential success of this strike stems on two factors – the
internal resolve of the WGA and the solidarity efforts of fellow trade
unionists and the community. Although the WGA’s own rules
regarding strikes do not allow the guild to directly discipline
strike-breakers and non-union scabs its leadership has the ability to
ban writers from membership. In addition, the WGA has amassed
more than $12 million dollars in strike funds. The SP-USA calls
on the strike committees of the WGA to ensure that their leadership and
contract bargaining team maintain the resolve to strike until
victorious.
Other unions involved in the production of movies and TV should
immediately recognize the need for solidarity with this action.
Reports are that some Teamster locals such as Local 399 have instructed
their member-truck drivers not to cross WGA lines. The SP-USA
encourages such acts and calls on the International Brotherhood of
Teamsters to make this an official policy. Absent this, we
encourage locals and individual workers to respect all picket lines.
This strike has many potential educational benefits. If
successful it will demonstrate to other workers in “new” media forms
that strategies traditionally associated with manual labor are still
viable. In fact, the one constant in all forms of labor – mental
and manual – is the desire by owners – be they managers, supervisors or
producers – to maximize profits at the expense of workers.
Unionization, collective action and worker solidarity are still the
most effective means to reclaim some part of the profits generated by
our work.
Perhaps most important beneficial effect of the WGA strike is the
lesson delivered to the millions of television and movie viewers.
As the strike continues, patterns of television and movie consumption
are sure to be disrupted. This should serve to shatter the
illusion that these mediums are exempt from the everyday reality of
most working people. Behind the teflon smile of your local
newscaster, the witty charm of John Stewart or the precision timing of
the humor of David Letterman lays the real human labor of dozens of
writers. In this world behind the screen a CEO like Robert
Parsons of Time-Warner commands $22 million in yearly compensation from
revenue generated by the labor of a working writer such as Craig
Hoetger who struggles to piece together a yearly salary of
$40,000. Now is the time to put aside the remote control for a
few minutes and recognize the type of human solidarity necessary to end
such gross inequality.
The SP-USA calls on its members to provide solidarity to all WGA picket
lines. We also call on television viewers to boycott the
so-called “reality-based” television shows which studios have used as a
way to avoid the unionized writers of the WGA. Finally, we hope
that workers engaged in all sectors of the “new economy” – particularly
the service and white-collar professions – draw strength from the
example of the WGA workers and make similar efforts to collectively
reclaim the fruits of their labor.
November
8, 2007
The
Labor Commission is one of the focal points of the Socialist Party's
efforts to become rooted in grassroots struggles. Please support its
work. To get involved, write to the Labor Commission Chair on dan.jakopovich@yahoo.com.
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