Will spec factory jobs be the next stage in US economic development?

from The Nation:



comment | posted October 31, 2007 (web only)
All Trick, No Treat!
Annabelle Gurwitch



Annabelle Gurwitch's documentary Fired, in which actors, UAW workers and Robert Reich talk about employment and the lack thereof, premieres on the Sundance Channel on November 5 at 9:30 pm.

Last Halloween, I corralled my son into making a blatantly left-wing statement. We went out trick-or-treating dressed as hobos carrying homemade signs that read respectively, "Will Work for Healthcare Benefits" and "Brother Can you Spare a Million?" Oh, how our neighbors laughed and showered us with candy, which I judiciously parceled out over the entire year like any mom concerned with limiting her kid's intake of high-fructose corn syrup.

When I asked my son what he wanted to be for Halloween this year, with no hesitation he replied, "Aren't you in strike? We'll both be hobos, of course!"

"It's on strike," I replied and added, "not yet, but we're probably headed there."

I didn't say this to my son, but I think it bears noting that the Writer's Guild of America (WGA) talks, which will be followed shortly by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) negotiations, not to mention the Directors Guild of America (DGA) discussions, are taking place in the shadow of the landmark United Auto Workers (UAW) labor negotiations.

Ironically, when I interviewed former Labor Secretary Robert Reich for my documentary, Fired and he stated, "Every industry is becoming more and more like show business," it was well over a year before the UAW talks--which moved working on the assembly line a big step closer to working in show business--were even to begin.

Now more than ever, we writers/actors and factory workers have much more in common than you might think. Auto workers have long been thought of as emblematic of the American middle class, so it might surprise people to know that the members of the guilds in Hollywood face much the same economic picture as the rest of the country's middle-income earners, with only the top 5 percent earning the majority of the money and the rest of the membership working (those who can find work!) at scale rates trying to maintain a middle-class existence while employers are trying to keep costs down in order to compete in the global marketplace. Recent studies estimate that the minimum income a family of four in California needs to cover superfluous items like rent, car payments and food is $72,000, which for many can only be reached by holding on to on our union-negotiated pay and residual rates. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071112/gurwitch