I could care less about apathy

Commenting on yesterday’s post about the Abe Levitow negotiating committee cartoons, our organizer Steve Kaplan says:

It’s sad to think there's less solidarity across the nation as a whole than there was 50 years ago.

I agree with him, but I also have some perspective ...

I remember reading a letter in a 1947 edition of the SCG newsletter from my dad, who was a shop steward at George Pal, complaining about people sitting in the back row of a membership meeting gossiping about someone's upcoming marriage while significant issues were being discussed. (My thought is, at least they showed up for a membership meeting.) So I don’t know that things were that much better in 1950 -- in the middle of the blacklist era and three years after the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act -- or that they’re really that much worse today.

At the time of the cartoons we published yesterday, our union’s leaders were making decisions that to this day affect everyone working in this business, union or non-union. And in looking back at some of those actions that in retrospect might seem to have been ... ill-advised ... one sees that lack of solidarity had its root in people who weren’t paying attention to what was going on around them.

When apathy is pervasive in times when Important Things Are Happening, the need for leaders to make decisions in the common interest doesn’t go away. And after those decisions are made with the input of a vocal and dedicated minority, those of us who have never attended a meeting break out the 20/20 hindsight goggles and grumble about That Stupid Union and its Stupid Decisions. When in fact the silent majority gossiping in the back row of the decision-making process are as much if not more to blame than the decision-makers.

Anyone who’s active in a union is used to being disagreed with -- it comes with the territory. A mark of effective leadership is to provide forums for that discussion and even disagreement, and to listen -- really listen -- to what is said in those forums. In all modesty, the TAG Blog is a perfect example of that, as are our membership meetings.

A long-winded journey to my point: our next membership meeting is on May 31 at the Guild office. Pizza at 6:30 pm, meeting starts at 7, and Chris Simmons will host what sounds like it will be a fascinating panel on compositing. Speaking for myself, I promise not to whine any more than I have in this post if you sit in the back row and gossip, as long as you take even just a little time to listen and participate in the discussions.