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latimes.com: Union stagehands will be picketing Pearl Jam’s concerts this weekend at the Los Angeles Sports Arena over the facility's use of nonunion stage crews for those shows.
I do not understand why the union venue thinks it is okay to just ditch the union. There are over 20 states that are right to work states. And to no surprise, California is not one of those states. This is why I am confused about this situation and I would agree with the union workers. The City Councilman says that the venue belongs to the public and the money should go to the taxpayers of that community and not to the USC. At the same time, earlier in the article, it says that the venue was hiring people from out of state. Hence why I am confused!
I totally agree with the IATSE guys. If they had a contract (or even a standing agreement) to be the exclusive labor for this particular venue, but a show came through and didn't hire them, I'd be upset too.
I think there has to be something else going on here though. If the venue had a signed union contract, I can't believe they'd just break it this easily.
I don't understand why these instances keep happening. We have a union for stagehands that does a pretty good job, and yet I keep seeing articles about venues hiring nonunion workers. I'm not sure why that at a place that has a contract with IATSE they are ignoring the union and I have to wonder if there is something bigger going on. I know if I was part of the Road Crew for Pearl Jam I would be very nervous about going into a venue that doesn't have it's normal crew. These are the guys that know the space better than anyone else and so if I'm going to be working there they are the ones I want around.
I wonder what the misunderstanding is over the facility union contract. It sounds like it is in dispute if USC is so easily willing to hire non-union labor. That being said, I wonder what the actual quality differential is between non-union and union labor. And for that matter, what's the difference in pay? I guess it is enough that it is worth USC's while to risk hiring a non-union crew.
I feel like there has to be something else going on behind what was presented in the article. Like Frank said, it doesn't make any sense that the venue would break a longstanding union contract for no particular reason. It would be interesting to find out whether the reason comes more from the band or the venue. It's nice to hear that at least one politician is on the side of the union, and I tend to agree with them as well. If there was a contract, and it was broken, IA has every right to picket for their rightful jobs back.
From what we see in this article it seems that the article is totally in the right here, they had a contract with the arena the arena should honor this contract. Similarly to most other people here I think that there is something else going on here. I HIGHLY doubt that the arena would totally disregard a standing union contract. Like the article said this is strange knowing that the Union was not demanding higher wages or anything, they just wanted work. This is why Unions are around. To prevent things like this from happening. I am interested to see how this issue is resolved.
6 comments:
I do not understand why the union venue thinks it is okay to just ditch the union. There are over 20 states that are right to work states. And to no surprise, California is not one of those states. This is why I am confused about this situation and I would agree with the union workers. The City Councilman says that the venue belongs to the public and the money should go to the taxpayers of that community and not to the USC. At the same time, earlier in the article, it says that the venue was hiring people from out of state. Hence why I am confused!
I totally agree with the IATSE guys. If they had a contract (or even a standing agreement) to be the exclusive labor for this particular venue, but a show came through and didn't hire them, I'd be upset too.
I think there has to be something else going on here though. If the venue had a signed union contract, I can't believe they'd just break it this easily.
I don't understand why these instances keep happening. We have a union for stagehands that does a pretty good job, and yet I keep seeing articles about venues hiring nonunion workers. I'm not sure why that at a place that has a contract with IATSE they are ignoring the union and I have to wonder if there is something bigger going on. I know if I was part of the Road Crew for Pearl Jam I would be very nervous about going into a venue that doesn't have it's normal crew. These are the guys that know the space better than anyone else and so if I'm going to be working there they are the ones I want around.
I wonder what the misunderstanding is over the facility union contract. It sounds like it is in dispute if USC is so easily willing to hire non-union labor. That being said, I wonder what the actual quality differential is between non-union and union labor. And for that matter, what's the difference in pay? I guess it is enough that it is worth USC's while to risk hiring a non-union crew.
I feel like there has to be something else going on behind what was presented in the article. Like Frank said, it doesn't make any sense that the venue would break a longstanding union contract for no particular reason. It would be interesting to find out whether the reason comes more from the band or the venue. It's nice to hear that at least one politician is on the side of the union, and I tend to agree with them as well. If there was a contract, and it was broken, IA has every right to picket for their rightful jobs back.
From what we see in this article it seems that the article is totally in the right here, they had a contract with the arena the arena should honor this contract. Similarly to most other people here I think that there is something else going on here. I HIGHLY doubt that the arena would totally disregard a standing union contract. Like the article said this is strange knowing that the Union was not demanding higher wages or anything, they just wanted work. This is why Unions are around. To prevent things like this from happening. I am interested to see how this issue is resolved.
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