Official Statement of the Labor Commission

When the irreverent early 20th century comedian W.C.
Fields was once caught reading the bible he explained
that he was “looking for some loopholes.” On Monday
November 5th, 12,000 members of the Writers Guild of
America (WGA) took a bold strike action to sew up some
of the loopholes which have allowed the entertainment
industry to make exorbitant profits from their labor.
The Socialist Party USA (SP-USA) stands with the WGA
and calls upon the Association of Motion Picture and
Television Producers (AMPTP) to concede to the WGA’s
demands for a just contract.

Unlike the often inebriated actor Fields, the AMPTP
has found many profitable loopholes. While
screenwriters are paid industry rates for work aired
in traditional media venues such as television and
movies, they receive only a small fraction of the
profits generated in the “new” media outlets of DVD
sales and internet based programming. Writers
currently receive only 5 cents per unit for the sale
of a DVD. For entertainment delivered via internet
streaming video WGA members receive only 1.2% of gross
revenue. There is also currently no language in the
contract regarding the producer’s right to insert
product placements into WGA member created scripts.
Such practices amount to a patently unfair pattern of
labor exploitation. Demands by the WGA seek minor
modifications to the existing contract. Rates for the
sale of DVD’s would double to 10 cents per unit.
Internet based programming would increase to 2.5% of
gross revenue and writers would have greater control
over the placement of products into their scripts.
The AMPTP should return to the bargaining table
immediately and agree to these quite reasonable
demands.

The potential success of this strike stems on two
factors – the internal resolve of the WGA and the
solidarity efforts of fellow trade unionists and the
community. Although the WGA’s own rules regarding
strikes do not allow the guild to directly discipline
strike-breakers and non-union scabs its leadership has
the ability to ban writers from membership. In
addition, the WGA has amassed more than $12 million
dollars in strike funds. The SP-USA calls on the
strike committees of the WGA to ensure that their
leadership and contract bargaining team maintain the
resolve to strike until victorious.

Other unions involved in the production of movies and
TV should immediately recognize the need for
solidarity with this action. Reports are that some
Teamster locals such as Local 399 have instructed
their member-truck drivers not to cross WGA lines.
The SP-USA encourages such acts and calls on the
International Brotherhood of Teamsters to make this an
official policy. Absent this, we encourage locals and
individual workers to respect all picket lines.

This strike has many potential educational benefits.
If successful it will demonstrate to other workers in
“new” media forms that strategies traditionally
associated with manual labor are still viable. In
fact, the one constant in all forms of labor – mental
and manual – is the desire by owners – be they
managers, supervisors or producers – to maximize
profits at the expense of workers. Unionization,
collective action and worker solidarity are still the
most effective means to reclaim some part of the
profits generated by our work.

Perhaps most important beneficial effect of the WGA
strike is the lesson delivered to the millions of
television and movie viewers. As the strike
continues, patterns of television and movie
consumption are sure to be disrupted. This should
serve to shatter the illusion that these mediums are
exempt from the everyday reality of most working
people. Behind the teflon smile of your local
newscaster, the witty charm of John Stewart or the
precision timing of the humor of David Letterman lays
the real human labor of dozens of writers. In this
world behind the screen a CEO like Robert Parsons of
Time-Warner commands $22 million in yearly
compensation from revenue generated by the labor of a
working writer such as Craig Hoetger who struggles to
piece together a yearly salary of $40,000. Now is the
time to put aside the remote control for a few minutes
and recognize the type of human solidarity necessary
to end such gross inequality.

The SP-USA calls on its members to provide solidarity
to all WGA picket lines. We also call on television
viewers to boycott the so-called “reality-based”
television shows which studios have used as a way to
avoid the unionized writers of the WGA. Finally, we
hope that workers engaged in all sectors of the “new
economy” – particularly the service and white-collar
professions – draw strength from the example of the
WGA workers and make similar efforts to collectively
reclaim the fruits of their labor.

Socialist Party USA, Labor Commission
September 24th, 2007


On Saturday September 24th over 73,000 UAW workers across the country walked out in the first nationwide GM strike in 37 years. The Socialist Party USA calls upon its members and allies to demand a decisive victory for striking UAW workers and upon the entire labor movement to mobilize in solidarity.

The UAW has shut down production at more than 80 facilities owned by GM in 30 states. An economic ripple effect will likely spread through the industry up and down the supply chain causing more stoppages at other North American facilities which either supply or depend on GM components. The eminent large-scale halt of production brought on by the strike marks a watershed moment for class struggle in the US not seen since the Teamsters struck UPS in 1997. The outcome of this strike will impact not only the quality of life for workers at GM, but the disposition of workers toward militant class struggle throughout the United States and Canada.

This strike repeats the themes raised in recent years by other major strikes, namely job security, the cost of health care, and equality for new employees. The Socialist Party supports the UAW’s demands at a minimum in order to hold on to hard won wage rates and job security. In particular, the Socialist Party condemns GM’s attempt to offload its responsibility for retiree health care to the UAW through a notoriously insecure Voluntary Employee Benefits Association (VEBA), while funding it at only 60-70% of the total cost. We urge striking UAW workers to reject any contract that includes VEBA, two-tier wages, supplements to be negotiated after ratification, or any cuts in pay or benefits whatsoever.

In the 1940s, the UAW led the union movement by winning full health care benefits from auto industry employers. Today, that incentive to join a union is quickly evaporating as employers roll back decades of struggle. The Socialist Party USA joins UAW workers to demand that GM honor its commitment to provide complete health care insurance at no cost to its employees and retirees. We also call for the labor movement to join us in demanding universal socialized health care for all.

We applaud the Teamsters for their speedy pledge to not cross or work behind UAW picket lines. For this strike to succeed, collective action must not be limited to GM employees. The labor movement’s history has shown us that major battles are rarely won without support from fraternal labor organizations and popular forces in affected communities.

The US auto industry has suffered from a competitive disadvantage in the increasingly global market for various reasons. Cheap labor in Korea, our lack of a universal single payer health care system, and the failure of US automakers to innovate are just a few of the major causes. As GM’s market share dropped, the company shed employees to only a fraction of the number it employed a decade ago. Nevertheless, in the past year GM has rebounded with $207 billion in revenue while paying $10.2 million a year to its CEO alone. The large shareholders and executives of GM should not be allowed to fleece such profits from the labor of GM workers. Their reckless mismanagement of the company and its finances is just one more reason to remove these parasites and let the workers manage production for themselves!

Accepting the framework of the modern capitalist economy severely limits the ability of trade unions to make substantial gains of any kind. The UAW’s leadership has openly recognized this fact, agreeing to many concessions in recent years in the vain hope of bolstering the competitiveness of GM as well as Ford and Chrysler. The UAW’s impressive $900 million strike fund has done nothing to encourage militant collective action. While corporate mismanagement and US government policy each have a share of the blame, as socialists we recognize that capitalism places an inevitable downward pressure on workers, beyond the control of any particular institution. Only a movement that abolishes both markets and the private ownership of production can ensure full economic security for workers.

Because of the central role of the automotive industry in the US, GM employees have the potential to pave a new way forward for the US working class. We must unite behind this strike to take initiative away from the bosses and reinvigorate the union movement with the basic principles and demands of socialism. The Socialist Party’s Labor Commission will coordinate Party solidarity and serve as a clearinghouse for information and analysis about the strike. We also suggest supporters contact your nearest Socialist Party local for details on particular actions in your area.