IATSE's Tom Short weighs in, calls WGA "irresponsible and irrational"

First reaction to the AMPTP's announcement of the breakdown of talks with the WGA comes from Tom Short, president of the Intl. Alliance of the Theatrical Stage Employes, which reps over 100,000 below-the-line employees.

Short's had a long, bitter history with the WGA, blaming the guild leaders for their tactics of refusing early negotiations and attempting to organize IATSE turf in animation and reality.

“I don’t believe the WGA ever intended to bargain in good faith,” said Short. “And they are destroying a lot of lives in the process. As a result of their irresponsible and irrational behavior, the number of IA members who have lost work is fast approaching 40,000 people representing members all over the US and Canada. Unless and until the WGA leadership starts behaving responsibly, which is unlikely, not only wages, health insurance coverage and pension benefits will be lost. Homes and businesses will be lost, too.”

The entire IATSE press release is here:

In the wake of the collapse this afternoon of talks between striking Writers Guild of America and the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers, IATSE President Thomas C. Short has issued a scathing denunciation of the WGA’s lack of good faith bargaining.

Short, who has been critical of the lack of experience and competence of WGA leadership since late last year, predicted the breakdown of talks, and has repeatedly accused the WGA’s Patric Verrone and David Young of irresponsibility in their pursuit
of a new contract with the producers.

Beginning with the cancellation of their own scheduled early negotiations that were to have taken place in January, the WGA has intended, according to Short, that the strike take place and disrupt not only the film and television industries in Los Angeles,but ancillary businesses as well. The halt in production caused by the strike has now spread nationwide and will soon reach beyond the US as several high profile feature films have been cancelled or put on hold until the strike is resolved.

Likening the WGA leadership to “a huge clown car that’s only missing the hats and horns,” Short has been infuriated that among the WGA contract points has been the illegal and unethical poaching of IA members in reality television now covered by IATSE Editors Local 700, and animation writers, members of Local 839, who have been covered by the IA for over 50 years. Said Short, “Even if the AMPTP wanted to give the WGA jurisdiction of animation writers they couldn’t. It’s not theirs to give. Those are IATSE members who have been part of our International for over half a century.”

With over 100 television shows shuttered and numerous features off the schedule,the resulting devastation to members of the IA is growing daily. “I don’t believe the WGA ever intended to bargain in good faith,” said Short. “And they are destroying a lot of lives in the process. As a result of their irresponsible and irrational behavior, the number of IA members who have lost work is fast approaching 40,000 people representing members all over the US and Canada. Unless and until the WGA leadership starts behaving responsibly, which is unlikely, not only wages, health insurance coverage and pension benefits will be lost. Homes and businesses will be lost, too.”

The IATSE is an International Union that represents members employed in the stagecraft, motion picture and television production, and trade shows industries throughout the United States, its Territories, and Canada. (For background information on the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees: www.iatse-intl.org.)

Comments

[IATSE Mom]

Gee, you produce one piece of work, sell it for more than a below the line worker makes in more than a decade and you have to budget to stretch it out for two or three years. Awww. That's the nature of your work. A week to week paycheck to pay a mortgage, raise children and buy groceries with maybe a little left over is the nature of most below the line worker's. It's the height of snobbery and arrogance to think that those of us with job descriptions that don't draw the occassional 6-7 figure paycheck should suffer in silence for your Guild's hubris. We're all in this together (when we're really not) doesn't pay the bills. There is no reason the WGA could not have stayed at work and still negotiate. You have legitimate grievences, but your tactics suck and are causing harm to a lot more than writers.

I have every right to resent the writers and producers for costing my family even one thin dime when this strike has absolutely zero benefit for the below the line worker. Not every below the line IATSE job is artistic, some are purely technical. When you have a steady income stream for 15 years and have it derailed by inept, childish individuals, and those that know how to take advantage of them, it's bound to piss you off. Stability is not a four letter word.

Not everyone that makes their bread and butter in this business is in it for the art. We're here for the money just like most of the WGA. Otherwise you'd be off scribing independent features, playwrighting and authoring novels that of course you would self produce, edit and publish to maintain complete control. You could therefore reap all the rewards of your endeavor at the art house, Equity Waiver theatre of coffee klatch at Barnes and Noble.

The writers walked off the job leaving the crews and "permanent" employees of IATSE studio departments that help realize their literary vision high and dry. The WGA was not locked out by the producers, they choose to walk. It was self-centered and arrogant of the writers and no round of minigolf for 100 out of work families is going to diminish that fact.

As for financial ruin, my family's not there yet, and I bet we can outlast a great deal of the WGA's rank and file since our skillset is marketable outside of Hollywood, just for a lot less money.

Aside: For animation writers bitching about their IA local, it's their union, get involved and change it if you don't like it. If you can't keep your own paperwork straight to the point you "lose" health benefits because you can't prove you worked when Contract Services loses some paperwork, it's your own fault for not watching out for your own behind. Keep your paystubs and you won't have this problem.

Finally, if name calling, hail mary passes to change the course of a negotiation late in the forth quarter, incendiary rhetoric, and a complete lack of business sense is all you've got in your corner, the WGA deserves what it will eventually have to swallow from the producers.

[BTL Single Guy]

As someone who works below the line, I don't understand why IATSE would be siding with the producers in this fight. If the writers have "legitimate grievances," how else were they supposed to react to the AMPTP stonewalling? Would you like the WGA, SAG or the DGA dictating how and when you strike? Were the IATSE members on Broadway acting selfishly when they put actors and non union employees out of work, not to mention ruining family vacations during the most important time of the year? It's okay to disagree with the tactics of the WGA leadership, but to undermine another union by collaborating with the studios and releasing what amounts to being a joint statement with the AMPTP? That goes beyond the pale. That's strike busting and all around scab-like behavior at it's worst.

My last day of work was the Friday before last. Am I scared? You bet I am. I don't make as much money as most of my IATSE counterparts. I figure I can survive for about six months without working. But you know what I did this week? I picketed for five straight days, along with several other people who aren't even in the WGA, let alone SAG. It was purely selfish on my part. The quicker this strike ends, the quicker I get back to work. IATSE's actions will only prolong this strike by giving aid and comfort to the AMPTP. If these issues don't get resolved with the WGA, we'll be back to the drawing board with SAG in June. One strike, I can survive. I'm not sure about a second or a third.

We are all lucky to be working in this business. Do you know how much a set painter (on standby per IATSE rules) makes whether he or she does any work? And we're bitching about writers who actually created the project that gave us these opportunities? Damn right I'm appreciative. This doesn't mean ANY of us should be exploited. The entertainment industry is highly profitable and is growing by the day. If it was up to the AMPTP, they would treat us like employees at WALMART. Trust me, they're going to get to us eventually, and I prefer to have a little back up.

[Josh]

I honestly can't believe that the IATSE would side with the AMPTP on this one. Aside from the obvious logical disconnect (the AMPTP offers an insanely lowball contract --> it's the WGA's fault we're all having a bad Christmas!!!11!1), and the weirdness of siding with gigantic conglomerates that don't care one whit about any of us, this is could be the first and last battle of a war that we little people will lose forever. Don't people understand this? If the AMPTP breaks the writers they will never bend ever again because they will have seen that if they play hardball and hold out long enough, they can break a union. And that will be their playbook for the rest of time. Because if they can break the rich evil ABLs they can sure as hell break the little people. SAG should have every member they have out there picketing, because if the AMPTP wins the actors might as well sign a lowball contact now, because SAG will get nothing in June, absolutely nothing. Because the AMPTP will have learned that they don't have to negotiate. And once they've taken care of SAG it will be IATSE, DGA, or whoever next time their contract is up. It will be the end of union negotiations for everybody for good.

[TV Writer]

Tom Short is and always has been the Companies' tool. He is selling out his membership. Again. If the WGA were to take the Companies' ridiculous offer, very shortly there would be no residual income for anyone, as all content migrates to the internet. And since IA's health and pension funds are powered by resids, maybe at that point "IATSE Mom" would finally wake up and realize she got screwed by her own "leader."

But the writers aren't willing to wait passively for that day; we're fighting for fair compensation now. And you can thank us, IA Mom, when we get it.

Almost every IA person I've ever worked with knows Short is in bed with the Companies. They all wish their union could be as strong as the WGA.

[TV Writer]

Tom Short is and always has been the Companies' tool. He is selling out his membership. Again. If the WGA were to take the Companies' ridiculous offer, very shortly there would be no residual income for anyone, as all content migrates to the internet. And since IA's health and pension funds are powered by resids, maybe at that point "IATSE Mom" would finally wake up and realize she got screwed by her own "leader."

But the writers aren't willing to wait passively for that day; we're fighting for fair compensation now. And you can thank us, IA Mom, when we get it.

Almost every IA person I've ever worked with knows Short is in bed with the Companies. They all wish their union could be as strong as the WGA.

[PEPPI TURCO]

Turn Off Your TV and Internet Shows

It appears that the only way to get the AMPTP to understand the power of the Labor Minded America and world at large is to hit them where it hurts, and that is in their pockets. As they have done to all of us who work in the industry. True, the WGA offers loans to its members to get them through this crises, however, the remainder of the industry does not have this opportunity. People are going hungry and without medication. Yes, in the great State of California in the United States of America, people who have nothing to gain or lose by the outcome of the negotiations are the ones who are paying the dearest price.

TV stars jumped to the occasion to rapidly shut their shows down in solidarity, and in part in a fleeting moment for some free "PR" and news feeds. Let's call it what it really is, I know, I've been to all of the rallies in support myself, and watched as all of those interviews took place as close as two feet away. Not to diminish their shining moment or their sincerity, but time and again I was dissappointed about the lack of extended insight after a minute or two of their speaking. I myself know how one can forget and go blank when a microphone is shoved in your face, but when you write a speech please make sure you have a couple of qualified intelligent people read it for you first.

Again, for the AMPTP, you have time and again tried to take the pie for yourself. Everyday comes new technologies. As I wrote in my movie contracts as a performer, that my percentages would be based on all current and future technologies, forms of distributions, and physical hard copy formats, whether currently invented, currently in use, or not. I rewrite and modify all of my contracts. To leave it to others is leaving a door open for strangers to enter and remove your belongings and your future. To the AMPTP, everyone deserves a piece of the pie, the most fortunate thing that exists is that with everyday we get a new pie. The Internet is another pie, tomorrow is another day.

When it comes to money, I once heard Bette Davis say that "we never would have asked for so much money if Jack Warner hadn't been so mean!" Recalling the reason movie stars made so much money anyway, her further recallection was, "We never expected that they would give it to us!" That said, the more mean, you- the AMPTP, the more mean you are to us now, the more we, "all of the industry," will ask of you in the future when you need us most. Like Elephants, we never forget.

America and the world at large, turn off your internet programs, and if need be, turn off your televisions too.

Peppi Turco
Hollywood, California

[Wake Up]

The sky is not falling for all the unions. The WGA is regarded as particularly militant and they have shown it. They don't want the DGA or SAG beginning negotiations because they will likely get a reasonable deal and move on. The WGA has long been picking for a fight and despite all the comments about helping everyone with their health plans, etc., their true colors have shown with the demands to have jurisdiction over reality and animation. This isn't just about money, it is also a power grab. They know that there are still areas that they can't dictate to the studios and they are willing to break everyone's bank to get control.

Now the writers are coming out in force to call Tom Short a scab or conglomerate sell-out. How typical of the comments I see over and over again from the WGA. If someone dares to disagree, let's publicly ridicule them. Such arrogance and disregard for the people they work with. Nobody else wanted this strike and most everyone outside of WGA knows it could have been avoided if reasonable adults had been in charge.

I'm a member of IATSE and certainly can't speak for the animation writers, but I would hope that if they feel they would be better served by WGA (as mentioned above), then they would as a group make the changes that they need to.

[IATSE Mom]

Alienating the people that write your paycheck or bring your work to the screen is no way to get what you want. Yes the corporations are greedy, but casting the studios as the enemy won't shame them to give in. Most folk take offense when you call them greedy jerks to their face even if it's true. When you work for a studio or producer, you are an employee, your work product belongs to them. You're lucky to get any residual. Many people feel that if you want to own it and get residuals, you should produce it yourself and not agree to work for an employer. We're a spoiled lot in this industry and I think people forget just how good many of us have it compared with the rest of the country.

Villifying the people that have already made more concessions to union members than 99% of other businesses would even consider is just insane. My two year old is learning that throwing a temper tantrum is no way to get what you want. You say please and thank you. Why do people forget this as adults?

I couldn't believe that the WGA's assertion that a $130 offer or $32 million offer based on whose analysis you believe value is a rollback. Are they cutting your initial compensation, uping your medical co-pays? Those are roll backs. It's PR and strategic blunders like this that allows the MBAs to pull crap over on you.

Individually, writers are intellegent folk, but the bungling behavior of your Guild over the past year has proven once again that mobs are always stupid. Until you start negotiating like businessmen you will be played like chumps by those with a mastery of the game.

Yes it would be nice if writers get a bigger piece of the pie from the re use of work you were paid well for in the first place. In the meantime myself and the families of IATSE, SAG, AFTRA, Teamsters, DGA and the non-union members of our industry and associated business will continue to bleed for your fight. But we're just collateral damage in the WGA's mind right?

Outsourcing, wage cuts, working conditions, healthcare cuts, pension cuts, these are things that a union should consider striking for. Those are bread and butter issues, not bonuses like residuals. You should have stayed at work while negotiations were still taking place. The AMPTP walked out in the first place because the WGA went out on strike. The AMPTP is jerking the WGA around, because the WGA is letting since because you have the wrong people pleading your case. This isn't a producer lockout, you walked out on your own free will.

I hope you get some of your residual demands, but it will take a hell of a lot of DVDs or internet downloads to make up for the lost income of those of us with nothing to gain. So if we're all in this together, how much of your bounty will you share with us if you get some of what you want. I don't know what your household budgets are writers, but I do know that once everything gets back to normal, it will take six weeks to save one week of our lost wages. Right now we're looking at 30 weeks, more than half a year just to get back to November 3rd and we're a lot better off than a lot of our IATSE brothers and sisters.

So you militant WGA folks can call me a scab, or say I need to "wake up" but since I write checks every year to three guilds and two unions, I have a right to disagree with the stupidity going on that is being fueled by the WGAs lack of professionalism and sense of entitlement. Unions are democratic organizations, not communist (in fact you can't be a member of IATSE and be a member of the Communist party) so I can state my beliefs and as long as I'm not writing scripts, I'm not a scab.

[Hyprocracy]

I happened to be in Burbank during the WGA rally on Alameda on Friday and I could not help but notice several odd things.
The labor that built the several tents: non-union.
The labor that built the stage that Jack Black performed on: non-union
The T-shirts that were so proudly bearing WGA demands: made in china (non-union).
The generator and genset tech that provided the power for the stage: non-union.
Solidarity?
When I questioned the organizer about these issues his response was "this is not about you or the IA".
No WGA, this is about hyprocracy.
I DARE the WGA to prove any of the statements I have made to be incorrect and I welcome any response at:
pacificotv@sbcglobal.net

[Caught in the Middle]

"TV Writer" is spreading the type of erroneous information that has the WGA membership whipped into an unnecessary frenzy rather addressing the facts and honestly negotiating. As content migrates to the internet, writers already receive payments for downloaded material. Or haven't you noticed writers finally fessing up in the press they receive such residuals after earlier lying about being shutout of the medium? And the AMPTP has made an offer to pay for streaming of tv and film?

It's the WGA's demand for a piece of online advertising revenue that is ridiculous. Why not demand a piece of on air advertising as well? The production companies don't receive a dime from such advertising revenue, only the networks do. How can the WGA demand that the producers pay them a piece of income they don't receive?

Let's stick to the facts and get real negotiating back on track.