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Together We Bargain, Divided We Beg

Oscar-winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler released this statement in the wake of IATSE president Tom Short's letter to Patric Verrone, president of the WGA. Wexler is a legend, and when he evaluates the state of our unions, he does so with authority. Without minimizing the difficult decisions that everyone faces in a strike, we found this note stirring and wanted to share it. -JA I walked the WGA picket line along with 6000 film workers demonstrating in front of Fox Studios.

The spirit I saw in that demonstration is exciting to me, it gives me hope. These strikers are resisting further concessions, concessions which compromise all our futures.

I caught the eye of a couple of grips and electricians driving through the line. Although I understand why our guys go through the line, it saddens me.

Can it be because I am of a different generation? One IA official told me I should “get in touch with the way things are.”

Union people used to say: “Together we bargain, divided we beg.”

Employers speak with one voice of corporate solidarity. They represent major international corporations, of which entertainment is but one VERY profitable branch.

They count on this WGA strike-lockout to break what little solidarity exists between our guilds and unions.

Our Local President still signs letters “in solidarity.” But I ask, solidarity with whom? When we are told not to support our union brothers and sisters in this instance, what can we expect from them when we eventually need support ourselves?

It is in our practical interest to speak and act in solidarity with all union efforts.

I urge IA members to join the WGA picket line. SAG is well represented there.

SCAB used to be a dirty word.
It still is for me.

-- Haskell Wexler

Similar entries
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    The signs told the story: "WGA-DGA-SAG", "The House is Not Divided," "DGA-WGA Member," "Union Solidarity".

    The appearance of so many SAG and DGA members made the point that even though the AMPTP spin machine works hard to create the impression that there is dissension between the unions and in the ranks of the WGA, the opposite is true.

    Of course the strike has created tensions. How could it not?

    There should be tensions when so much is at stake and so much has been sacrificed in the fight with the congloms. But our common interests outweigh that tension, and our solidarity is real.

  • Statement from Verrone Thanking SAG

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  • Giving Thanks

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  • SEIU Rally - Strong Show of Support - Let's Keep It Up!

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  • AMPTP: "Union Busting" is Our Middle Name

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  • Support from SAG President Alan Rosenberg

    December 16, 2007

    Dear Writers Guild of America Members,

    I am writing to you on behalf of 120,000 proud members of Screen Actors Guild who stand with you in solidarity as your strike continues. We believe that now more than ever, we must remain strong and even more committed to achieving our common objectives. We are proud to walk shoulder-to-shoulder with you and SAG will be there for as long as it takes.

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  • David Latt: An Appreciation of the Writer-Director Hyphenates

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    There are many who labored behind the scenes to support the writers' strike. At United Hollywood we worked with people who put their energy on the line but wanted to stay off the media's radar. Not content to just talk a good game, these are members and supporters who knew that if they wanted to make a difference, they had to work at it.

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  • WGA Willing to Stay at the Table Day and Night Until We Have a Deal

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  • WGF Industry Support Fund: Helping Those in Need

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  • Solidarnosc

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    Where I grew up in the deep south in the 1970's, union was a dirty word. Even in my family, conspicuously liberal (in our neighborhood, at least) for our attendance of public schools, unions were considered a way for workers to loaf on the job without being punished. Coming from the management side of the equation, most people I knew were happy they didn't have to deal with workers who stuck together.

    I sailed through childhood with this belief essentially unchallenged.

  • Verrone: If We Lose That Solidarity, They Take Advantage of It Big Time

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    December 13, 2007

    To My Fellow Members:

    The AMPTP and each of its member companies have a legal obligation to bargain in good faith with the WGA. Their unilateral walkout from negotiations last Friday and their on-going refusal to bargain is illegal under the National Labor Relations Act. Therefore the WGA today filed Unfair Labor Practice charges against the AMPTP with the National Labor Relations Board.

    The DGA’s announcement today that it may begin negotiations with the AMPTP in January in no way relieves the AMPTP of their legal obligation to negotiate with us. The only legal way for the AMPTP to remedy the Unfair Labor Practice charge we have filed is to return to the bargaining table.

  • Fans Will Picket With Writers On MLK Day

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  • Moving Forward: The Need for Post-Strike Dialogue with Other Unions

    From screenwriter Brian Nelson (HARD CANDY, 30 DAYS OF NIGHT) --

    The other day I had a conversation with a friend of mine who works in Craft Services. It was an unsettling talk. While this friend has been quite supportive of me all through the strike, during this talk he kept raising points that felt more like what people on the other side would say. "Well, it'll take a long time to undo all the damage ... the moment there was a DGA deal, why didn't the WGA just jump on that? ... It seemed like they were a lot more willing to talk to the DGA than to you guys, and I wonder why." I took a while and patiently responded to all these points, but it struck me that every time I'd respond, he didn't really acknowledge it but came back with another bone to pick.

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  • Rally Wrap-up: Writers Want to Write!

    On a day when thousands of union supporters marched down Hollywood Blvd, the message was simple and most eloquently stated by Sandra Oh: "Writers want to write!"

  • Strike Officially Over - Contract Ratified with 93.6% Approval

    (The following is a letter from the presidents.)

    To Our Fellow Members:

    Today, it is our pleasure to inform you that members of the Writers Guilds of America, East and West, have voted to ratify the MBA contract with 93.6% approval. With a total of 4,060 votes cast, the tally was 3,802 to 258. These numbers reaffirm the tremendous level of support and commitment our membership has continuously demonstrated over these last few crucial months.

    We are also pleased to report that the trustees of our health fund voted yesterday to follow the recommendation in our strike settlement agreement to provide additional coverage and an extension of the earnings cycle for a full quarter (three months) to participants who would otherwise lose health coverage following an earnings cycle that included all or a portion of the strike period. Participants whose health coverage is paid for by points will only be charged points if they have ten or more points as of April 1, 2008.

  • Sexy Solidarity

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  • The Next Set of Talks

    From screenwriter Brian Nelson (HARD CANDY, 30 DAYS OF NIGHT) --

    The other day I had a conversation with a friend of mine who works in Craft Services. It was an unsettling talk. While this friend has been quite supportive of me all through the strike, during this talk he kept raising points that felt more like what people on the other side would say. "Well, it'll take a long time to undo all the damage ... the moment there was a DGA deal, why didn't the WGA just jump on that? ... It seemed like they were a lot more willing to talk to the DGA than to you guys, and I wonder why." I took a while and patiently responded to all these points, but it struck me that every time I'd respond, he didn't really acknowledge it but came back with another bone to pick.

    What it brought home to me was that while my friend was definitely on our side because he felt that the corporate bosses were out to screw us all, he still was very wary of the WGA. Now that the WGA didn't need him so overtly on our side, he felt freer to express a lot of the frustration that BTL people must still feel.

  • Just the Facts, Ma'am: AMPTP Causing Havoc to SoCal Economy

    Interesting things, facts. They are simply what they are. And yet sometimes you can read a lot into them.

    Here's a fact:
    On December 18, the Writer's Guild testified before the Los Angeles City Council about the economic impact of the strike.

    Here's another fact:
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    And one more fact:

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    Today, Tuesday, 11/20/07, Los Angeles will experience a labor rally in support of the WGA strike. Marching west on Hollywood Boulevard from Ivar and gathering in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater, thousands upon thousands will join together to celebrate the importance of labor unions in American life.

    And how will you know about this momentous occasion? You'll have to be there.

    At the last rally in front of Fox Studios, 4,000 writers and their supporters marched and rallied, but when you watched the evening news, you'd never know it . There was plenty of time that night to talk about lost kittens but nothing about the peaceful march that closed down Pico Boulevard and Avenue of the Stars.

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    on Day Nine of WGA Strike

  • Strike TV: Coming Soon, to an Internet-Connected Screen Near You

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