Sometime in the next few hours, it will be announced that SAG-AFTRA is calling a strike, probably immediately. There are a couple of bad reasons why they might say something like "The strike starts in 48 hours" but I don't think anyone expects that to happen. So for the first time since Ronald Reagan was the president of the Screen Actors Guild, both the actors and writers are on strike — and over approximately the same issues.
But not all the actors will be on strike. Animation voiceover is under another contract and that has not expired. Here's what Bob Bergen, one of the workingest voiceover actors in the business posted on Facebook…
- TV/Basic Cable Animation is NOT impacted by a TV/Theatrical strike as TV/Basic Cable Animation is a stand alone separate contract!
- New Media Animation made for TV is NOT impacted by a TV/Theatrical strike!!
- Nickelodeon Animation is NOT impacted by a TV/Theatrical strike as Nick is a stand alone separate contract!!!
- Animated Features ARE impacted by a TV/Theatrical strike and you may NOT work on an animated feature!
Here is a very simple piece of advice to anyone in the union who may be unsure as to the status of their employment: CALL THE UNION! Do not believe posts on social media or word-of-mouth. CALL THE UNION! There's a spectacular amount of erroneous information out there and as I mentioned in yesterday's post, you need to not believe what you hear from uninformed or unidentified sources.
Why is there a strike? I have no idea why they happen in the wrought iron industry but in the show biz unions there is only one scenario and it works like this. Let's take it step-by-step…
- A contract between the AMPTP ("The Producers") and a union or guild expires as contracts eventually do.
- At the AMPTP, they employ a squadron of lawyers and professional negotiators who specialize in this kind of bargaining. They make an assessment of how little they can give to the labor organization in order to nail down a new contract. Their job is to arrive at the contract that gives the fewest increases and achieves whatever rollbacks they can get…and that's really all they care about. They don't care about damaging the industry or harming the quality of the product or alienating the talent or usually even what a prolonged strike will do to the studios. That's their employers' concern. These negotiator folks are judged solely by the simple numbers in the final deal.
- So they make this assessment of the union's strength and solidarity and resolve and they work with the Producers to formulate an offer. The union wants ten dollars. The negotiator people tell their bosses, "I'll bet I can get them for six. So we'll offer five and scare the hell out of them to the point where they'll settle for six."
- And sometimes, they're right. It works just as they said. But sometimes they're wrong and the union stands firm at ten or offers to come down no lower than to eight-point-five. And if both sides refuse to budge, the union has no choice but to go on strike.
- And for a while, the negotiator folks may say, "Don't worry….after a week or two, they'll be on their knees begging to take six. I may even get them for five."
- But the union doesn't fold the way the negotiators predicted and pretty soon, the member producers of the AMPTP are fighting among themselves because the shutdown isn't hurting them all equally. Some want to go back and offer seven or eight but they have this rule of unanimity. They all need to agree on an offer. Also, some of them care about certain issues more than others.
- In the '88 Writers Guild strike which lasted 153 days, the rumor was (and here I am spreading a rumor after urging you all not to believe them) that Paramount and Disney were fighting over certain issues relating to compensation from video cassettes. You may remember video cassettes. Disney was more militant about not giving an increase on them than Paramount — or maybe it was the other way around. Eventually, largely through backchannel communications, agreement was negotiated within the AMPTP and they made an offer that was acceptable (barely, of course) to the WGA. And the strike ended.
- Now, you might ask, "Was it worth it to the writers? Did the increase they finally got make up for what they lost during those 153 days?" And an argument could be made that it didn't, at least in the short run. But that isn't the right question to ask. You have to also consider the big picture and the long run. Because if we'd taken the rotten deal first offered by The Producers, we'd have gotten a much rottener offer when that contract expired and the negotiator people told their bosses, "I'll bet I can get them for three this time!"
- Strikes happen because the "experts" underestimate the will of the labor organization. They get settled and become less likely to happen the next time when the labor organization doesn't allow themselves to be viewed as weak.
It is unfortunate that it has to be done this way but the unions did not design this system…and I'm not saying unions are always in the right. There are bad unions and badly-run unions out there. But as with so many things in life, the rules of engagement are dictated by the people who write the paychecks.
It's especially unfortunate for the collateral damage. When production shuts down in the TV and movie business, camera operators and makeup artists and the stagehands and the caterers and the people who clean the offices (etc.) get laid-off because of a battle from which they do not stand to directly benefit. For some reason, a lot of them blame the union for not taking a bad deal and don't blame the folks who formulated that bad deal and tried to force it on the union. We all wish there was a way that these people did not have to suffer but no one's come up with one yet. And we aren't the ones deciding that since production has shut down, their services aren't needed.
This post has gone on way longer than I expected so I'll just close with this one thought: If you are on strike and you're scared and feeling desperate, posting on social media that you're scared and desperate will just prolong the strike. The negotiator people and others in management who want to hold firm on their unacceptable offers will find three or four of those tweets or posts and print them out and show them to the folks in management who want to settle. They'll say, "See? Everyone in the union is scared and desperate! We've got them right where we want them!"
You're right to be frightened. No one knows how long this thing will last. This is my fifth Writers Guild strike and if I've learned anything, it's that predictions are worthless and a lot of them are just made to try and demoralize the opposition. But if you are frightened, find others in your union who can hold your hands and comfort you. It's human to be worried but please, keep it the hell off social media because you won't be helping your union. You'll be helping the people whose job description is to try and crush your union.