Monday, January 14, 2008

My Monday report from Orlando

If you’ve never been to the Executive Board meeting of a large union (and you probably haven’t), the two things to know are:

  • They’re usually pretty informative about what’s going on in the House of Labor, and
  • The seats inside the meeting hall are almost always hard and uncomfortable.

This week’s IATSE Executive Board meeting has so far followed both of those norms.

Today I found out that the Axium shutdown has affected not only the payrolls of a number of smaller employers but that the settlement money for a large grievance is in limbo with the rest of Axium’s funds. The good news: Larger companies for which Axium served as a “secondary employer” are stepping up to replace bounced paychecks.

Weekday-afternoon soap operas, a form that goes back to the days of radio, are teetering on the brink of mass extinction, which will result in the loss of some of the steadiest jobs in the entertainment industry.

The loss of health and pension contributions caused by the layoffs from the WGA strike will soon begin to affect our benefits. Everyone is looking to the DGA negotiations to break the logjam, but crystal balls are cloudier than ever.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

<<< Weekday-afternoon soap operas, a form that goes back to the days of radio, are teetering on the brink of mass extinction, which will result in the loss of some of the steadiest jobs in the entertainment industry.>>>

Do you mention this in connection with/result of, the WGA strike . . .

. . . or due to a ratings slide??

Or something else?

Steve Hulett said...

This is one that no one can blame on the WGA. Ratings have been sliding for years.

Recently a major soap-opera producer unilaterally cut its work week from five days to four. The IA took its grievance to arbitration and won, and the fifth day was reinstated. The battle was won but the war was lost -- the company's shows will almost certainly be canceled by the time the contract comes up for renewal.

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