Some of you may know that there is quite a to-do going on in the world of reality television. The Writer’s Guild of America, which is a union that represents screenwriters, is trying to get “reality storytellers” to join the fold. This would obviously benefit the WGA because there are a lot of us, and they would get our dues money. It would also benefit us because we stand to get things like health insurance, some kind of retirement plan, consistency in credits and titles, a standard of pay and work hours, and contracts.
Right now when a typical story editor gig starts, the SE signs a “deal memo” with the hiring company. This memo serves to protect only the company, not the employee. Basically, it says “okay, you agree to work for us for X weeks. But we can let you go anytime we want to, for any reason.” Thus, when you think you have 20 weeks of work coming up, they can change their minds and say “nope, we’re cutting you off after 18.”
I’m not pro-union. It’s not personal, for any of you who are in a union and/or ever went on strike because of a union (Mom). It seems to me that the only people who truly benefit from the efforts of a union, especially at strike time, are the heads of that union. I mean, just watch The Sopranos. (Okay, I’m kidding. Sort of.)
But damn. If someone made it possible for me to have a contract, in writing, that said my employer couldn’t cut me off early when I am supposed to be committed to THEM, I would really like that.
I heard about this awhile back. I used to feel as you do about unions, that they only benefit the union heads. But when I worked in the hospital, I felt differently. The hospitals where I live are not union-ized, but in some parts of the country they are. And I think the unions can do a lot towards helping staffing levels and such – hospitals notoriously have low staffing for lots of reasons, or too many nursing assistants and not enough RN’s and it is dangerous.
I am rooting for you; I hope you get unionized.
The union/non-union issue is very complicated. In many places unions are the only thing standing between corporations and employee pensions that they are dying to raid.
Unfortunately over the years congress has blown apart most of the protections that unions could provide employees.
I’m not really pro-union, but having worked in corporate America I can tell you that there really needs to be something to protect workers from the vultures that run these companies.
Before the clerical and technical union at Yale, secretaries, lab workers, etc. qualified for welfare even with a pay check. The union brought better pay, benefits and a sense of worth to these workers.
And although I am no longer in the union, I still support its efforts.
Unions are a tricky thing in my mind. I’m all for employees having benefits, etc but I think unions are one of the big problems in America. If unions could be put together in a group health insurance / benefits manner instead of a collective bargaining manner, I believe the economy would run a little more smoothly.
Wait, back up. Is that 18 v. 20 weeks example a personal one? If so, Ouch!