Who Do You Like In the Management/Labor Game?
According to Variety, you like Labor.
The WGA trumpeted a pair of surveys Wednesday showing plenty of public sympathy with backing of 69% in a Pepperdine poll and 63% in a SurveyUSA poll, while the companies received a only a smattering of support with 4% and 8%, respectively.
“These polls prove that the public understands what’s at stake here,” Verrone said in a statement. “Our fight represents the fight for all American workers for a fair deal.”
Of course, this is little more than a morale-booster. The chances of people boycotting Viacom or NBC/Universal to support writers are prettly slim. And to be fair, just because the writers look more like people than the corporations do, it doesn’t mean they deserve to prevail.
But there is this.
It certainly helps the writers that the companies with which they are at war have CEOs that have to talk out of both sides of their mouths. On the one hand, they have to claim everything is financially rosy so shareholders are happy. That includes profit forecasts from downloads and other digital platforms. Problem is, when it comes to the strike, that’s the very area which they claim isn’t monetizable at all.
And no matter what they tell shareholders, they may be right. On the other hand, if there’s no money in downloads, what’s the harm in offering a flat percentage? It seems a little fishy to me. See, there I go again, siding with the writers.
-daniel k.
November 16th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
Then there is what was brought up in Slate yesterday, an interesting article about how and why the press is siding with the WGA. What do a lot of journalists do for a living? They write. How did many screenwriting gods get their start? Being journalists. And what do a lot of journalists keep in their top drawer? Their screenplays.
We’re in the honeymoon phase of this strike. Wait ’til enough craftsmen and teamsters get laid off. Wait ’til all TV turns to s*** and reruns. Those poll numbers will change. Of course, they might not have to lose numbers: If IATSE, SAG or the DGA get pinched enough to change sides, anything goes.