Fox Admits It: Union Members’ Work Is ‘Awesome’
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Looks like we got the attention of Stuart Varney at Fox News. After we challenged as grossly false his assault on the ability of union workers to produce high-tech products, Fox this morning ran a list of the “awesome” things unions build.
The talking heads there then tried to backtrack on their attacks on union members, denying they said union workers were not highly skilled—but that they think that unions bog down corporations with too many rules.
Rules like safety and health to ensure workers stay safe—and alive—on the job. And getting paid for overtime. And then there’s the weekend….
Watch Fox backtrack here.
Thanks to the unions who sent us some of the other highly-skilled jobs their members perform every day, adding to the top-notch list the Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) originally helped us put together.
Netroots Nation: Freelance Workers of the World, Unite
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“Electronic sweatshops”—in which workers are expected to put in 16-hour days—are just one part of what independent professional workers endure today, and the union movement needs to create new models to reach out to this rapidly growing workforce. “Freelancers of the World, Unite!” an afternoon panel at the Netroots Nation conference, explored how media and other major corporations exploit “self-contracted” workers—and discussed how the union movement should reach out to these workers as they do among home health care workers, taxi workers and, most recently, domestic workers in New York.
Sponsored by the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), the panel included Joe Danisi, Joe Danisi, who explained that independent workers are subject to egregious terms set by employers because the standards in this part of the industry are so low–for example, no health care coverage and ridiculously long hours–and is currently non-union. However, unionized workers in this rest of the entertainment industry have won health care, pensions and workplace protection through wgae contracts. Danisi, has written, directed and produced dozens of non-fiction documentaries for television networks such as the History Channel, Discovery and A and E.
Netroots Nation 2010: Labor, Online Progressives and Union Beer
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Union activists are joining a couple thousand online progressives this week for the annual Netroots Nation conference. The July 22–25 event in Las Vegas brings political powerhouses like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) together with progressives from across the nation for workshops, panels and speaking events like the dynamic full-conference lunch session July 24 with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.
Along with Harvard legal professor Elizabeth Warren, Florida Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson and others, Trumka will take part in the panel, “Building a Progressive Economic Vision,” where he will focus on the key steps the nation needs to take to rebuild our nation’s economy (hint: Trumka’s proposals don’t include slashing the deficit at the expense of jobs).
Writers Guild Honors the Best of the Year
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The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) and Writers Guild of America, West earlier this month honored the year’s best writers for film, television, radio, news, promotional material and video games during simultaneous ceremonies in New York and Los Angeles.
Alan Zweibel received the WGAE Ian McLellan Hunter Award for lifetime achievement in writing. The award, named after a longtime WGAE member, is given in honor of a body of work as a writer in motion pictures or television.
One of the original writers on “Saturday Night Live,” Zweibel has won multiple Emmys and other awards for his work in television, including, “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show,” “Monk,” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” He co-wrote the screenplays for “Dragnet” and “The Story of Us.”
WGAE President Michael Winship said:
[Alan Zweibel's] eclectic career and comic grasp of life have delighted audiences for more than three decades. We’re all delighted that his talent is being honored by his fellow Guild members.
Writers Guild Workshops Help Vets Tell Their Stories
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Returning veterans often have a hard time adjusting to civilian life and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) Foundation is helping them find an outlet to tell their stories. Since April 2008, the foundation has held weekend-long writing workshops in which professional writers mentor veterans and active duty military personnel, encouraging them to express themselves in writing.
John Markus, first vice president of the foundation, says the workshops have caught on in the communities where they have been held. They are open to any member of the armed forces who has served in recent conflicts and who has a desire to write. Workshops have been held in Columbus, Ohio, and San Antonio, with more planned.
Markus says the WGAE members, many of whom are major award winners (Markus has won an Emmy) don’t try to tell the vets what to write. Instead they help vets navigate through writing process. Not all of the stories are about war or military life, but vets are encouraged to write about whatever is on their minds. Says Markus:
We specifically did not want to influence content. We reassured vets that they would own their material. If they wanted to try and get it published or find an agent or get studios to read their scripts, we could facilitate that.
SAG, NATCA and WGAE Elect Top Officers
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The Screen Actors (SAG) and National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) elected new leadership teams recently and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) re-elected their top officers.
Actor Ken Howard was elected as SAG’s president in a mail ballot, with results announced yesterday. Amy Aquino was elected secretary-treasurer. Howard and Aquino succeed Alan Rosenberg and Connie Stevens, respectively, and begin their two-year terms immediately.
Howard pledged to strengthen the union’s bargaining power:
“I campaigned on the promise that I’d do everything in my power to strengthen our position at the bargaining table by building a greater unity with [American Federation of Television and Radio Artists] AFTRA and the other entertainment unions, and that’s exactly what I intend to do. Despite the sharp differences that those of us active in Guild affairs sometimes have over strategy and tactics, we need to continually remind ourselves that we’re all on the same team, fighting for the same thing—and by pulling together, we’ll only grow stronger.”
NATCA chose Paul Rinaldi, an 18-year veteran air traffic controller from the control tower at Washington Dulles Airport, as president in a runoff election. Rinaldi, who has served as NATCA’s executive vice president since 2006, will take office on Oct. 17 to begin his three-year term. He will succeed Patrick Forrey.
The runoff election was held because no candidate won the required 50 percent-plus one majority in the first balloting, which was announced on July 31. NATCA Executive Vice President Patricia Gilbert won a clear majority and took office Sept. 1.
Rinaldi said he plans to make sure the nation’s air traffic controllers have a voice in the workplace:
Throughout my career, I’ve made it my mission to further the goals of this union and I’m not stopping now. We’ve had a difficult last three years, but we’ve persevered. I look forward to ensuring that our members always have a voice and, just as important, that the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] always listens.
Writers Guild to Honor ‘Doubt’ Writer and Committee to Protect Journalists
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This weekend, the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) will present its highest awards to an international organization to protect the freedom of the press and to a playwright whose latest play became an Academy Award nominated movie.
The 61st Annual Writers Guild Awards will take place today simultaneously in New York City and in Los Angeles. John Oliver, correspondent on “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,” will host the New York ceremony at the Hudson Theatre.
WGAE, which represents writers in motion pictures, television, cable, new media and broadcast news, will give its Evelyn F. Burkey Award to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The award recognizes contributions that have brought honor and dignity to writers everywhere. CPJ is an independent nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide by defending the rights of journalists to report the news without fear of reprisal.
Says WGAE President Michael Winship:
In a world where freedom of the press is so often suppressed and its practitioners threatened, even killed, the CPJ stands in defense of the lives and liberty of those writers around the planet who so valiantly struggle to bring us the truth.
Past recipients of the Burkey Award include: Walter Bernstein, Martin Scorsese, the Museum of Television & Radio, Vaclav Havel and David Brown.
