Anonymous Vs. Anonymous

In the comment thread below ("So ... It's Going to Canada?") there is some back-and-forth that centers on whether unions -- specifically TAG -- have value. Some highlights:

... What people in this thread want is for the union leaders to do something they don't have the power or authority to do -- unilaterally change the contract that the membership voted for, publically attack signator studios where members work, and somehow evoke change while the membership sits on the sidelines. Actually, that's too specific. Some of the posters here don't know what they want our leaders to do, they just want them to come up with a solution, without having any inkling what that solution might be, and then they promise to support that solution, even though they can't be bothered to come to a meeting or figure out how their own union operates. ...

Then a tart rejoinder:

What people in this thread want is for the union leaders to do something they don't have the power or authority to do ...

In that case I take back my statement. Instead I'll say it's even worse than I thought and unions are a waste of time. And that's not being defeatest. I literally mean that if it takes all the members to organize and come to a consensus and jump through hoops just to enact a tiny bit of change, then it is literally a waste of time. I'd rather work my way up through my studio and enact change from within: because it's my studio that I care about anyway ...

And finally this capper:

Instead I'll say it's even worse than I thought and unions are a waste of time.

Prove you mean that, and give your union pensions back. Prove you believe that, and pay for your health care out of pocket, like most people at non-union studios do. Prove you mean it and don't cash that severance check the union studio is required to send you after they lay you off. Prove you mean that by working for wages below the union minimum.

You're guilty of black and white thinking. If the union can't magically do everything I want it to do, without any sacrifice from you, then it's totally, completely worthless. And you ignore the fact that your lazy, childish attitude is part of the problem you hate.

Of course, you don't think that way about "your studio." You ignore that fact that they're eagerly trying to outsource your work, grateful to have a job while others don't. And so you keep quiet, and look for others to do the heavy lifting.

And that's not being defeatest.

Yes, actually it is.

I literally mean that if it takes all the members to organize and come to a consensus and jump through hoops just to enact a tiny bit of change, then it is literally a waste of time.

What you want to call a "tiny bit of change" is an issue that TAG went on strike over twice. What you call a tiny bit of change is a change that no union studio would willingly allow to happen. Your cognitive dissonance probably comes from the need to sleep at night, but it doesn't make your warped perceptions correct. ...

Here's the reality of the U.S. labor movement: It's as good (or bad) as the 1) Leadership, 2) Membership, and 3) The political and cultural environment in which it operates.

At present, large companies -- the Fortune 500 Darlings -- are the Top Dogs inside E. Pluribus Unum. We have the most expensive health care system, the costliest political system, and the richest corporate chieftans that exist on the planet. We have a greater concentration of wealth than any other large, industrialized state. And workers have less power, say or influence.

In short, we have come a loooong way from the days of Republican President Dwight David Eisenhower, who explicitly supported unions. Today, of course, any Republican worth his or her salt equates a labor union with the anti-Christ. And Democrats have become like Ike: they support unions, but tepidly.

But let's stop whining about the anti-union culture in which labor now swims and ratchet the field of vision down to good old 839. Are we weak? Yeah, we're weaker than unions were in, say, 1969, and weaker than some of the above-the-line guilds. But we're certainly stronger and more pro-active than many of our sister locals in the IATSE. We have filed larger and more aggressive grievances than most of the I.A. locals on the West Coast. We have struck twice to keep work inside Los Angeles animation studios.

Of course, what have we done lately? Just this week, we secured additional checks for board artists who'd received no screen credit on a production. And we continue to expand the size and reach of TAG's 401(k) Plan, which supplements the two pensions inside the Motion Picture Industry Pension Plan.

Could we do more? Quite possibly. But labor unions, unlike corporations, rot from the bottom up instead of the other way around. If members don't participate and pay attention, then fewer good things get accomplished. I once said to a complaining member at a meeting:

"You don't like the way things are being run, show up here with a dozen of your friends. You can take the guild over."

He thought I was joking, but I meant it. Any member with fire in the belly, energy, and some discipline can become a power here. It isn't always fun and easy, but it's considerably better than chanting: "The union is weak ... the union is weak ..."