Hollywood and NAFTA

[dhorne at bc.sympatico.ca]

At 09:31 AM 11/16/1999 -0800, you wrote:
>I am not referring to products made in Hollywood, but a process --  the
>studios moving production to countries where they can get a cheaper
>workforce which has come in the wake of NAFTA.  Isn't that largely what
>the WTO protest in Seattle is about -- the eroding of working people's
>jobs and job security and the beating back of unions?
>
>>From the Hollywood Fair Trade Campaign press release:
>"We are here to tell Mr. Daley and the world that behind the glitz and
>glamour of our industry is a factory town in deep distress - a community
>of working families and small businesses reeling from the effects of
>NAFTA and the very free trade
>agreements Mr. Daley has come to Hollywood to promote.  The NAFTA
>structure
>Mr. Daley and the studio heads will be celebrating tonight is the very
>system that has removed our jobs to Canada and has taken with them our
>health insurance, our pensions, our kid's college funds, and our homes."
>
>marta
>
>
>Brad De Long wrote:
>
>> What does NAFTA have to do with this?
>>

On the way home from my morning work out I passed a block of the familiar
white trailers that told me that movie company was on the job. We see a lot
of that and as a resident of Hollywood North [Vancouver BC] I can tell you
that we're very happy to have these productions around. In this case NAFTA
is not a factor. The provincial and federal governments provide a few tax
breaks but the main plum is the low Canadian dollar, not to mention the
fact that we have lots of studio space, locations that can double for just
about anywhere and a deep pool of talent. Canadian content is taken care of
by the fact that not a few of the actors and just about all of the
technicians are local hires.[End of commercial]

In spite of all of the above, as a third generation union person I'm in
deep sympathy with the Hollywood tech. Canada loses jobs regularly to the
United States. Hardly a day goes by that we don't hear about some company
or other relocating to North Carolina, or some other state where the
minimum wage is lower and benefits non existent.

At the end of the month I'll be on a bus bound for Seattle to join the WTO
protests. Every working person, should, in spirit at least, be doing the
same thing.

David Horne
Vancouver BC Canada


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