after that they say, sayanora fucker, we'll be using your stuff to teach the course online. You get 2000 clams for the course, if you're lucky.
At 02:53 PM 1/14/2008, you wrote:
>Jerry Monaco wrote:
> >> I'm only mildly less excited by the writers strike as I would be to see
> >> shareholders fighting for larger dividends.
> >>
> >> John Thornton
> >>
> >
> > If a group of textile workers got paid piece rate or percentages,
> > would you say the same thing if they asked for more per piece? What
> > is your exact reason for saying the above?
> >
>
>
>If textile workers who were paid a piece-rate asked for an increase per
>piece I would bee 100% behind them.
>Does that answer this question succinctly enough?
>My reason for writing the above is that the writers aren't ALSO asking
>for a piece-rate increase to the best of my knowledge.
>If they are asking for this I support them in that proposition only.
>I do know they are asking for a larger share of the IP income stream.
>Since I oppose copyright how can I not also be expected to be something
>less than enthusiastic when some group demands a greater share of
>something I oppose?
>That is why I chose the analogy above.
>
> > Do you know that even though residuals in new media is the main issue
> > in this strike there are also other issues -- for instance solidarity
> > with other unions and organizing the unorganized. Do these other
> > issues "excite" you a little?
> >
>
>The main issue is the one I spoke of and I one I will continue to speak
>of. I remain unexcited by an attempt to grab a larger share of the
>unjust IP income stream.
>
> > Yes, the current "intellectual property" regime is basically state
> > sanctioned monopoly that has little connection with the origninal
> > purpose of copyright. In this sense it is unjust, but no strike
> > anywhere is going to in itself change basic inequities in a system.
> >
>
>Says Jerry, but not says John.
>
> > Because the WGA is in fight for a better deal for the people who
> > actually work and create you should be excited by this strike, or at
> > least interested in the issues of the strike. Because corporations are
> > on a campaign to monopolize creative work for themselves; because they
> > believe that their "intellectual property" is theirs alone, and any
> > encroachment is a trespass that needs to be fought; and because
> > coroporate monopolization and expanstion of IP is the pattern for all
> > industries involved in producing "intellectual" "property", this
> > strike should at least be interesting to you.
> >
>
>
>You mean the union can't fight to change copyright law they can only
>fight to grab a larger share?
>You think pretty poorly of them. I think they have it in them to do the
>right thing and I am ambivalent on this issue because they are labor
>fighting for something unjust rather than capital fighting for something
>unjust in which case I would be actively opposed rather than ambivalent.
>
> > The WGA is not a radical union out to change the basis of the IP
> > regime. In the past 70 years the writers' union leadership has at
> > times been radical, at times reactionary, and at times (as it is
> > today) a union in the forefront of the union movement. I came to the
> > left and one of the first things I learned when I was 12 or 13 is that
> > you support unions on strike and you don't cross picket lines. If
> > workers jobs are threatened you are for them and are interested in
> > them. If a union is trying to organize the unorganized your reaction
> > was enthusiasm and not a comparison with stockholders of a
> > corporation. If a union put in its contract demands elimination of
> > the "No Strike" clause we cheered as if it were a radical step. (In
> > fact in all the interim agreements made so far, part of the contract
> > is words to the effect that "workers covered by this contract will not
> > be disciplined for honoring the picket lines of fellow workers".) All
> > of this should get your blood running just a little.
> >
>
>It doesn't do anything for my blood but then I'm a cold heated bastard.
>You seem to equate my ambivalence to hostility.
>They chose to strike over something I oppose so nothing you could write
>will stir me to fall in love with this strike.
>I won't oppose it but you can't make it like it since I disagree with
>the unions goals on this issue.
>I'm unhappy the union chose this issue to make a fight out of. It tells
>me they've lost sight of something important.
>
> > I would think those of us on the left would be even a little excited
> > by the fact that a very small union is fighting some of the richest
> > and most powerful corporations in the world.and doing a pretty good
> > job of it Or excited even by the fact that we have seen pro-strike,
> > pro-union propaganda produced with wit and charm. (If the TWU could
> > get some of the current strikers to produce similar propaganda the
> > transit strike a couple years ago would certainly have been better
> > fought.)
> >
> > I don't mean to go overboard with my enthusiasm, but there are a few
> > things significant in this strike and I have tried to express them.
> >
> > To put it mildly, anyone who supports a stronger and better union
> > movement should be enthusiastic about many aspects of thias strike.
> >
> > (I am just assuming John, that most of the people on this list support
> > a stronger and better union movement. For the detailed issues of this
> > strike all I can do is refer you to the weblog "United Hollywood".
> > For a larger perspective on the strike unfortunately I have not come
> > across leftists who have written about it. This has been
> > disappointing. But I have written myself on the issues and in other
> > posts have referred to some other writers who have written on the
> > issues.)
> >
> > Jerry Monaco
>
>If a stronger and better union movement is actually contingent upon
>capturing larger shares of all future IP income streams just come kill
>me tonight since I'll take that as a sign that the unions have lost
>sight of everything they should stand for and that I am willing to fight
>for.
>
>John Thornton
>___________________________________
>http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
http://cleandraws.com Wear Clean Draws ('coz there's 5 million ways to kill a CEO)