Attica! Attica!: WGA Strike Watch (Discussion)

From the LA Times ... I'm wondering how skeptically I should consider this. After all, there aren't many WGA members who are voters in Iowa or New Hampshire, but the California and New York primaries won't be too far behind: John Edwards, who picketed with Writers Guild strikers Friday, one-upped Hillary Rodham Clinton by announcing that not only would he honor a CBS News strike -- were one to occur -- by not participating in the network's Dec. 10 Democratic debate, but he won't go on "The View" next week because that guild-represented show is continuing to tape without writers. (Earlier, Clinton issued a statement saying that if CBS News staffers, who authorized a strike this week, actually walked out, she would not cross their picket line.) Here's Edwards' statement about CBS News and "The View": "Elizabeth and I will honor the members of the Writers Guild of America who are on strike at 'The View' by canceling our appearance on the show next week. I call on all of my fellow candidates and their campaigns to do the same. "In addition, we will also honor any picket lines at CBS News, up to and including the CBS presidential debate on December 10th. As I said when I walked the WGA picket line in California last Friday, these workers are making a simple request for their fair share of the huge profits being made by multinational media corporations. "I am a strong believer in collective bargaining, and I hope that in each of these disputes, management and the union are able to agree on a just settlement. But until those settlements are reached, I will stand firmly with these workers in their fight for a better life." (For non-US readers ... Edwards is currently running third in the polls for the Democratic nomination.)

I had wondered if the strike would eventually wreak havoc on the presidential election, as it's becoming more and more popular to appear on night time talk shows. Also, I'm pretty sure most of the big political shows they'd be expected to appear on would be scripted, so it would be interesting to see if they have to cancel. I had no idea there would be a choice, though. If all the writers walk out of CBS news, then they're sort of forced to find another place to plug themselves, yeah? Where will they go, NPR? ;)

Well since the national election isn't taking place for nearly a year (Nov. 2008) it won't mean much for the national broadcasts for a while. At this point, the bulk of the campaigning is either through debates hosted by the cable channels -- no WGA issues -- or at a lot of meet and greets in small towns in Iowa and New Hampshire. (Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, is polling huge in Iowa, but getting little national media attention, for instance.) But once Super Tuesday comes around-- that's the point when a dozen or so states have primaries on the same day -- then there's more interest in national exposure. ETA: how bizarre. I originally wrote 2008 as an apostrophe and zero and eight, as one would do, only to end up with the following smiley: '08)

Press blackout and undisclosed location mean no news yet on today's strike talks. However, WGA East rally in NYC still on for Tuesday, demonstration in London in support of WGA still scheduled (Wed?) as well. deadlinehollywooddaily.com has some info, looks like agreements may actually be reached (fingers crossed). speaking of the demo in London, is anyone going?

speaking of the demo in London, is anyone going? I might. I need to move a meeting at lunch and get someone to cover a shift. Are you a Londoner Ashley?

deadlinehollywooddaily.com has some info, looks like agreements may actually be reached (fingers crossed). speaking of the demo in London, is anyone going? She has excellent contacts, so there could be something to it. But Monday's meeting centered on old business, i.e., what was under discussion when the talks broke down. Tuesday's negotiations are supposed to tackle the issues they couldn't amicably discuss before, and one more meeting is scheduled for Wednesday. I suppose anything after that depends on how amicably Tues & Wed go. WGA plans to continue picketing, rallying and demonstrating until a contract is actually signed, so the Send A Pencil Campaign continues, on Tues there will still be the NYC Rally and Day 2 of the Phone Call Blitz, and Wed is still the International Solidarity Day (Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Canada, the U.K., Mexico and France). Send A Pencil: http://unitedhollywood.blogspot.com/2007/11/pencils2mediamoguls.html Info for the Phone Call Blitz: http://community.livejournal.com/wga_supporters/108254.html Info for the NYC Rally: http://www.wgaeast.org/index.php/articles/article/1061#wga1061 Info for the London Demonstration: http://writersguild.blogspot.com/2007/11/reminder-support-us-strike.html

speaking of the demo in London, is anyone going? I might. I need to move a meeting at lunch and get someone to cover a shift. Are you a Londoner Ashley? Yes^^ I've PMed you to avoid going OT on the board^^

With the news blackout in place—unless someone from either side begins blabbing (in which case all bets are off)—we probably won't know much until something dramatic happens—either a settlement or a collapse of the talks. The buzzwords around Hollywood right now are "cautiously optimistic." Nikki Finke sounds more optimistic than cautious: http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/ United Hollywood leans a little more on the cautious side: http://unitedhollywood.blogspot.com/ The truth is, the only people who know what's happening are those in the room. Everything else is a guess. The picket lines will continue, and the Guild would like to see lots of people continue to turn out—puts more pressure on the AMPTP to come up with a fair deal that way. By the way, as of yesterday, I am officially the Guild's staff liaison with the fan community. If any of you have ideas about how the fans can help the writers, let me know. I've already gotten in touch with fans4writers.com and a couple of other sites.

PollingReport is my favorite place to get top-line results from a variety of nationally recognized surveys. It's mostly political stuff by they do add social issues on occasion. Looks like Fox News's regular survey added a couple of questions on the strike on it's last outing: Only 15% of respondents support the networks. Just over 1/3 (35%) will be disappointed (very/somewhat) if the strike means they won't be able to see new episodes of their favorite shows but 50% will not be disappointed.

By the way, as of yesterday, I am officially the Guild's staff liaison with the fan community. If any of you have ideas about how the fans can help the writers, let me know. I've already gotten in touch with fans4writers.com and a couple of other sites. First off, congratulations. Second, is there anything being done right now to help out the writers financially? And supporting industries. I know that there's all these wonderful groups with the pencils and delivering pizza and whatnot, which is awesome. But, when everything gets resolved, there are still people who are missing out on wages for however long they were out of work. I'm completely on the sides of the writers, but I was just curious.

From the LA Times ... I'm wondering how skeptically I should consider this. After all, there aren't many WGA members who are voters in Iowa or New Hampshire, but the California and New York primaries won't be too far behind. No, there aren't too many WGA members voting in Iowa or NH but there are plenty of SEIU members who have already endorsed Edwards. Since he's got the backing of other labor unions his stance to not cross picket lines and go on the View makes sense at the local level as well.

From the LA Times ... I'm wondering how skeptically I should consider this. After all, there aren't many WGA members who are voters in Iowa or New Hampshire, but the California and New York primaries won't be too far behind. No, there aren't too many WGA members voting in Iowa or NH but there are plenty of SEIU members who have already endorsed Edwards. Since he's got the backing of other labor unions his stance to not cross picket lines and go on the View makes sense at the local level as well. It makes you wonder how this is now going to affect the primaries. Prior to the strike, Obama and Clinton were in the lead. Now with Edwards having that support, how much is it going to change the votes? Especially with Clinton and Obama probably having similar feelings on the strike as well as having come out with similar statements to Edwards'?

It makes you wonder how this is now going to affect the primaries. Prior to the strike, Obama and Clinton were in the lead. Now with Edwards having that support, how much is it going to change the votes? Especially with Clinton and Obama probably having similar feelings on the strike as well as having come out with similar statements to Edwards'? Hard to say. Having that backing seems to help more from an organizational standpoint than mere voting numbers. Clinton has a number of key labor endorsements as well. Not sure about Obama. Things seem pretty neck and neck in Iowa, so I suppose any publicity stances that jive with the sentiment of the general population is probably a good thing. Or certainly not an unhelpful thing.

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