CMU School of Drama


Friday, February 03, 2017

Writers Guild East Blasts Proposed Anti-Union ‘Right to Work’ Legislation

Variety: The Writers Guild of America East has blasted proposed federal legislation that would allow workers to opt out of paying union dues.

The new bill, H.R. 744, was introduced this week by Reps. Steve King (R-Iowa) and Joe Wilson (R-SC), would extend “right to work” to all states nationwide.

“One of the strange perennial rituals of Beltway Washington is the introduction of legislation to destroy the only effective voice American workers have on the job,” said WGA East President Michael Winship and Executive Director Lowell Petersson.

2 comments:

Julien Sat-Vollhardt said...

I have a conflicted and ever-evolving opinion about unions and their current structure in America. Unions are, indeed, a necessary organization that further the rights of workers and are really the reason we have the benefits we have the benefits we enjoy in jobs today. However, I am always wary of taking anything a union spokesperson released to the press at face value. In practicality, the only thing a union really cares about is the perpetuation of itself. In this case, I think it is reasonable and totally feasible in a union's contract to have two tiers of dues with the same benefits, where both still have to pay the portion for legal representation and negotiation with companies, the difference being one does not support political work and lobbying. Not to mention how unreliable this source is, Variety is pretty much a Hollywood shill.

Sarah Battaglia said...

Julien is absolutely right that Variety is consistently far left and is maybe playing with our heads a little bit or omitting some information that would make the argument more clear. Except I don't really think that because I agree with everything that this article says, especially the part where they call out republicans who voted for their R senator or our god damn president and are now going to lose money and a part of their union, and the party they voted against is the one trying to stop them. It's ridiculous. It makes me so angry, I feel like my key board is going to light on fire I am typing so fast. We need unions, this country needs unions, they are a vital part of keeping the middle class alive, which was one of the things Trump (I'll die before I write president in front of that) promised as a part of his campaign. There a lot of people in this country who get their health insurance through unions, myself included, and my entire family needs that money more than some banker or fat white man sitting at his desk surrounded by dollar bills and prostitutes (this is a very heightened generalization, but it feels like we are living in house of cards anyway so I am going for it) . The "Right to Work" bill is designed, like the rest of the republican party, to make people think it will help them when really all it does it help the people already in power. Lets open our eyes.