| Our labor laws function through contracts, known as collective bargaining agreements. Those agreements are very specific as to what they cover, to whom they apply, and when. A strike is not about costing the employer(s) money or preventing financial losses to the union's members; it is about exacting a fair contract, ideally through negotiation, but through more aggressive means when necessary. Writers who write for both stage and screen do not focus on what "gains" they are losing from any source of income; they just want a fair contract for themselves and their fellow employees, and the issues for WGA are of enormous importance, far beyond an immediate financial reward. To suggest that the WGA strike hurts Broadway more than the screen employers who are party to the CBA is beyond nonsensical, and to try to miniaturize it by focusing on CBS's losses from the Tony broadcast is even worse. It is not the WGA's job to protect Broadway in any event, and if its leadership did so, it would be in dereliction of their duty to bring AMPTP to the bargaining table and to agree to a new contract that is fair. |
