[lbo-talk] Joss Whedon, union militant

[Jim Straub]

I think its an awesome strike and from my distant vantage point have the
impression they are waging a very good battle.  The continued existence of
labor unions inside the machines of Oz keeps unions visible in our culture
in a very helpful way for all concerned, beyond the impact of those 4,000
writer workers.  For example: the first show comprehensively shut down by
the strike was the american version of the Office (one of my favorite
shows).  Many of the actors are writers who are militant about the strike
(look at their hilarious 'the office is closed' on youtube).  Also the
megastar of the show, steve carrell, refused to cross the picket line and
instead called the studio and told em he wasn't coming to work because of
illness--- he said he was feeling a case of enlarged balls.  haha.  Anyway,
it just so happens that this show, made by a whole bunch of class conscious
organized creative workers, also happens to have some of the best depictions
of the realities of class, race, gender etc in the aggravativing world of
office empoyment.  And in the second season, the warehouse workers try to
organize, and the corporate exec there runs a -textbook- boss fight against
them.  I mean someone on the writing staff must have worked on an orgnaizing
campaign before because they nailed the standard anti-union capitive
audience threats and lies to a tee; they even got some of the classic
dynamics on teh shop floor during a campaign right on the money.  Nowadays
whenever apolitical folks are trying to understand what I do as a union
organizer, I just lend them that episode of the show.  best teachable moment
on a mainstream tv show in a loooong time.

So yeah, go wga.


> > >
> > > According to the BLS, the strike affects about 4,000 workers. Insofar
> > > as "traditional leftists" think in the millions, 4k ain't bupkes.

Doug, when do traditional leftists in the us think in terms of millions?  In
general on this list we debate controversies of politics that involve, like,
four leftists who hate each other.  Not that I'm complaining--- that
digression into the wacky world of kliman's value theory was good
entertainment in these days of strike-caused reruns.  But seriously, 4,000
is numerically larger than any socialist organization in the united states,
ain't it?  I sure have never worked on a strike that big!