LA Times: Will Peter Jackson get labeled a union buster on 'The Hobbit'?

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/the_big_picture/2010/09/will-peter-jackson-get-labeled-a-union-buster-on-the-hobbit.html

September 28, 2010 | 12:58 pm

I guess it tells us everything we need to know about the volatile state of labor relations in the entertainment business that long before "The Hobbit" has gone into production, or even received a greenlight, the much-heralded two-picture project has become the focus of a bitter dispute between the film's producer and expected director Peter Jackson and a host of actors guilds and international unions. They've thrown down the gauntlet, so to speak, stating that their members are "advised not to accept work on this non-union production."

In addition to inspiring reporters everywhere to begin their stories with phrases such as "All is not peaceful in the Shire," the unions' heaving of the gauntlet prompted an emotional response from Jackson, who blasted away in a statement at his tormentors, saying "I feel growing anger at the way this tiny minority is endangering a project that thousands of people have worked on over the past two years, and the thousands about to employed over the next four years, the hundreds of millions of dollars that is about to be spent in our economy." Jackson made it clear that if the unions don't back off, the big budget prequel to the "Lord of the Rings" saga will be moving to a region that is popular with Hollywood productions looking for a way to save lots of money. As Jackson put it: "There is a twisted logic to seeing NZ humiliated on the world stage, by losing 'The Hobbit' to Eastern Europe."

I confess that, for once, I'm not sure who to side with in this dispute. Jackson has done more to raise the profile of New Zealand, and its filmmaking community, than anyone in recent history. He probably figures that he is being used as a whipping boy by the guilds, especially Australia's Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance union, which according to a very smart piece by Jonathan Handel, has not managed to unionize any productions in New Zealand, making that country, as Handel describes it, "a sore spot for actors unions across the English-speaking world. The unions allege that productions relocate to New Zealand specifically to avoid union terms."

FULL story at link.

The need to show force someplace.

And I'll remember this if Jackson scabs on us. I can live without his hobbits monkeys or muppets, whatever his next project is.