Three strikes, and the audiences are “out”

We’re into week three of the WGA strike now, and the NY stagehands’ contract talks broke down again last night, too. Enter the writers for CBS News, who, in a move that’s likely to surprise no one who’s been paying attention, have also authorized a strike. From the WGA East:

WGA-CBS Newswriter Membership Authorizes Strike
tgriffin
November 19, 2007

Vote Give [sic] Writers Guild Ability To Call Strike At Any Time

CBS News employees who are members of the WGAE and the WGAW resoundingly voted 81% to authorize a strike against CBS. The strong vote gives the WGAE and WGAW authorization to call a strike at any time.

Almost 300 WGA-CBS members voted in the special election, held on November 15 and 16th in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

WGA-CBS members, working in television and radio, on the national and local levels, in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington D.C., have been working under an expired contract since April 2, 2005 and without pay raises since April 2004. In November 2006, the WGA-CBS membership voted by an overwhelming 99% to reject CBS’s contract offer. Since that time, CBS has refused to put forth any new proposals, insisting on the offer which membership rejected. CBS’s continued demand that membership accept its offer spurred the employees to overwhelming vote to authorize a strike.

“Our members at CBS News consistently have demonstrated their hard work and commitment to quality journalism, but have had their dedication and diligence rebuffed by management’s refusal to negotiate a fair, respectful contract,” said Michael Winship, president of the Writers Guild of America, East. “By this powerful vote and other actions they have taken, Writers Guild members are sending their CBS bosses an irrefutable message of solidarity: we will do whatever it takes to get what we have earned and deserve.”

“CBS news and promo writers deserve a good contract, and this vote is long overdue proof that they are willing to do whatever is necessary to achieve it,” said Patric M. Verrone, president of the Writers Guild of America, West. “Their fellow writers of TV, film and new media, who know first hand what a vote like this can mean, stand behind them in their efforts.”

Full text of post here

I can’t pretend to have learned about all of the details involved in each of these labor disputes (appearances notwithstanding, I do actually take the time to work hard at my “real” job) but, as a consumer of both television and theater productions, I would certainly hope that all these disputes can be resolved sooner rather than later. The damages, both to those in the industry and to those whose livelihoods depend on it, are too great for the standoff to continue.