I work on film sets, and the WGA strike possibilities is giving me anxiety, and will put my family in a horrible situation. All the other unions bit the bullet and signed contracts the members didn’t want in 21 and 22, but the work has been so great that almost all members are working.
But now I’m at risk of no work for months or even over as year because the writers. From the hierarchy of a film set, I kind of already hate these people. They would not talk to me when they drove a van for them, the were not nice to me when I worked in the production office, the larger the writing team-the worse the writing, and from the little interactions I did have over the year with WGA people it was clear they all came from or had more money than me (while working less hours and weeks) .
Now I have a job where I actually have to read these things and they are mostly terribly written and completely unaware of budgets or even what the weather/geography is for the scenes they are filming.
I genuinely would be so bummed to be out of work, and I don’t understand why they are the only union to put us out of work in the last 2 decades. They fucking are writing so much crap, like Jimmy Fallon has writers that are paid? Fuck you SNL writers, and the Rick and Morty guys! Why should I feel solidarity with these people?
You should show solidarity, but if the union isn't going to give you support during the strike, I wouldn't stick your neck out for them. A writer's strike in particular isn't a game-changer in terms of praxis or revolutionary movement, so ultimately you should think about it selfishly. If they aren't helping you, fuck em. If they want your help, they should be the ones to show solidarity with you. Trust is a two way street, and no organization should demand your trust by default.
I've never been in your position, so I'm completely full of shit, but personally I don't think a handful of negative experiences should get in the way of showing solidarity for other workers as they try to exercise their right to collective bargaining. Other than that it's absolutely not important or required that you like these people.
Them not getting a good contract isn't going to help you get a better one.
This is one of the fundamental ways that capital divides and disciplines labor. Of course you can't be blamed for acting in your self-interest because you need to work to make money. But that's the point. It's one of the great tricks of capital to blame one section of labor for the hardships of another. It sucks if you're out of work because other people are striking, but the people to blame aren't the writers, it's the bosses, the owners. They could just as easily end the strike by giving them a fair deal.
Now there's more to it than just this. Your unions took bad deals. And the writers guild is merely trying to do right by its own members, unable or unwilling to concern itself with all the workers in the industry or in the whole economy. This is another great strategy of capital. When communists were expelled from the unions and the unions submitted to the demands of capital to forsake truly revolutionary ends in favor of protecting their members, the foundations for our current state of anemic, siloed unions were laid.
Workers like you, everyone who works on films, and the writers should not be engaged in separate struggle. The struggle must be united. It is more powerful and capable of much more fundamental change that way.
But what can you do as an individual? Not so much. It requires the coordination of many people through unions that are responsive and accountable to their membership with leaders who are ideologically principled. Dialogue and coordination between different sectors of the workforce is necessary. If the unions have been brought to heel by capital, with leadership that sells out to the bosses in order to maintain their little slice (at the expense of any real future) then change must come from below.
It is not easy. It has been made to be almost insurmountable difficult and frequently illegal for unions to operate in a truly radical fashion. But it will always be considered illegal by unjust powers to challenge them.
To conclude, you don't really have to like the writers. But you should understand that your fight and theirs are, deep down, the same fight. If you have been separated it is because of pressure from above, and this is something critical to fight.
Workers like you, everyone who works on films, and the writers should not be engaged in separate struggle. The struggle must be united. It is more powerful and capable of much more fundamental change that way.
:iww:
Writer here, writers suck as people but union agitation among even one small shitty section of the working class is good for the entire working class.
