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In 1988, I purchased a VCR player. It revolutionized, at least for me, how I could watch movies I loved. I didn't have to go to an art theater for a "Classic Movies" weekend when I always worked on the weekends, anyway. I didn't have to re-watch a favorite movie on a network TV station that made arbitrary cuts in scenes and dialogue just so the butchered film would fit with the commercial breaks that became longer and more frequent as the movie progressed. Later, I found I could get favorite TV shows, too, on a new format called DVD. I was in heaven.

What I did not know then was that the people who actually wrote what I loved to buy on VHS tapes and later on DVD's and at iTunes had made a deal with the the powers that be. They agreed, in 1988, to take a pittance in residual pay because they were told by the studio heads that this was an "unknown market."

Now, 20 years later, these writers are being told that they still have an "unknown market" with DVD sales, downloadable sites, and streaming video. Bullshit. The networks make the greatest part of their profit from -- guess what? -- DVD sales, downloadable sites, and streaming video. And they don't want to share any of those profits that they can get away with not sharing.

I don't like unions. Seriously. I hate them. But I recognize them as a necessary evil in the process of workers being exploited to maximize profit. And that's what is happening in the Writers Guild of America (both east and west). The workers are being unfairly exploited so that the networks can further maximize their already inflated profit.

The same thing has been happening throughout US history (and the history of other countries, as well). Read up on why unions are important at this Wikipedia entry: Timeline of Labor Issues and Events. It's also important for me to point out that I am not such an anti-capitalist that I think the big wigs don't have a right to their fair share of profits. They do. But if the workers (in this case those who write the shows and movies we so dearly love to watch) aren't fairly compensated for what they produce, they become slave labor.

I've been involved in one really nasty strike. As management at the Disneyland Hotel, a place where (at that time, mid 1980's) unions were a very necessary evil. I almost lost my job by being on the side of the workers. Later, as management at the Hyatt Regency, Long Beach, I was able to stop the union from interfering with a company that treated its employees much better than any negotiation the union could procure for them.

Sure, we all want our favorite TV shows to continue. But, take a moment to understand where our entertainment comes from. Another Wikipedia entry is all about the WGA strike as it unfolds.

Bottom line: Workers need to retain the right to strike for better working conditions. Without that right, we live in a society bereft of freedoms. Haven't enough basic freedoms been taken away in the last seven years?

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