Blogh | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh City Paper: This week City Paper reported about the apparent lack of progress with the Delta Foundation since the protests at Pittsburgh Pride by smaller, local LGBT groups. Protests were sparked by the selection of Iggy Azalea as headliner (the rapper had a history on social media of making comments that many felt were racist or homophobic), but protesters felt the issues went beyond that (Azelea later dropped out and was replaced by Nick Jonas). Demonstrators demanded more inclusive practices at Delta, particularly the participation of trans and people of color in Pride.
3 comments:
I totally side with Delta. IATSE charges some ridiculous rates and why would any organization (especially one without a lot of money) intentionally unionize their labor. If local non-union labor can do the job to standards they are okay with they only thing that changes would be the huge increase in cost due to hiring from IATSE. It's also hard to take IATSE seriously with all the protests they have. I had odd encounters with IATSE crew downtown when working for Flyspcae because Flyspace does not hire from IATSE. They were pretty rude us and honestly its ridiculous. The labor required as a Flyspace employee does not require a large amount of technical skill, almost everything you do could be learned on the job. To staff the Three Rivers Arts Festival requires a lot of relatively cheap labor and IATSE is not even a realistic alternative. The festival would go bankrupt and then no one would win.
I completely agree with Isaac. This past summer, I worked with Flyspace and about halfway through the summer, I saw on article on Facebook about the relationship between Delta, IATSE, and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. IATSE job opportunities are important and great if they fit the requirements of the job that needs done. Just like Isaac said and the article mentioned, the labor that is needed to support Pride or any of the festivals downtown would be completely overqualified and unnecessary. I understand the the point of the union is to keep people working but this past summer, there did not seem to be a lull in touring concerts that I’m sure were hiring union members for. I do understand IATSE’s side of the argument however I feel like it is more out of gathering attention, rather than serving the purpose of the organization, to keep members working. I also think that of all the time they spent on this conflict, they could have been spending their time in more useful places.
Let me just start by saying that the combination of these two protests seems a little haphazard in terms of this article. I'm not really sure what gay representation and labor unions have to do with each other. However it is quite clear that something is happening in the ranks of the Delta Foundation of Pittsburgh. The fact that the president is outright ignoring public letter sent by other interest groups says to me that the delta foundation will have to at some point make a public statement defending their actions to the LGBTQ groups that have qualms with them. As far as labor unions go, this is a tale as old as time. It takes less money and less effort to deal with union workers and the business has found away to legally work around them. IATSE and SEUI can protest all they want, but forcing the Delta foundation to change hiring policy through discontinued donation and sabotage is as backhanded as subverting union labor. They have to find a better way to get what they want.
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