Election Battle for WGAw Presidency

As we earlier discussed board candidates for the Writers Guild, the LA Times profiles the two men running for the top spot:

... [Chris Keyser,] co-creator of the Fox television series "Party of Five" is locked in an usually close race against the better-known Patric Verrone, a former two-term guild president who led the 8,000-member union during the 2007-08 strike and who remains a polarizing figure.

The outcome of the election, to be announced Sept. 16, is being closely watched because it could set the tone for labor relations in Hollywood ...

Elections are important. And elections often set the tone for a lot of collateral issues that voters don't think about when they cast their ballots. (True in national election. True in state elections. And true in municipal and union elections.)

Patric Verrone has track record that works for him, also against him. The perception of him as a union militant at a time when labor is hunkered down and clinging to the ledge by its finger pads, will gain him some votes and lose him others. (I wouldn't have a clue whether gains outweigh losses ... or if it's the other way around.)

What I do know is that the winner will have a sizable influence on the next cycle of industry negotiations, which will have a direct impact on how every other entertainment guild and union fares when its turn at the negotiating table comes around. We live in a corporatist age, and it's important that all of us pay attention if we plan to successfully navigate the shoals waiting for us downriver.