QotD: WGA Strike

Film & TV writers are on strike, which means everything except reality TV could halt production.  Do you support the strike?  Are any of your favorite shows in jeopardy?

I believe people should be compensated fairly for their craft, their creation.  I find it strange these days the size of the draws media gets and how many hands are in the pot.  Some hands don't really belong in the pot.  Some shouldn't haul out as much as they do from the pot.  I know it applies to the music industry, with artists cutting out the middlemen and discovering the wealth they've been missing... It rings true for many things... I remember working in cable and getting all these gadgets, pens, calendars, and other things as an incentive to sell.  In the health care industry, people are paid a a handsome salary to go from office to office to get physicians to hear about the latest drugs they represent.  To an extent, perhaps it's necessary but because of all this marketing and promotion, how much does it effect the final cost of things?  I'm tired of being marketed to.  I'm sickened with the amount of money thrown into holes in an attempt to sway people to consume their products.  How much would a gatorade or Hanes t shirt be if Jordan didn't endorse them?  Would they then be more accessible because of a sharp drop in price and gain a tighter market share due to this drop not affecting quality but price alone?  Of course, they can do these things and keep things the way they are.  Who's going to turn away more money?

I worked in Television in operations.  My coworkers and myself made it possible for the stations news to be broadcasted and its commercials to hit the airwaves.  We aligned dishes and set up feeds that made it possible for us to receive and transmit national broadcasting and many of us weren't even at parody with competitor stations in the market, which made for a high turnover that impacted moral, as well as everyone's workload.  Did we get parody?  No.  Did we strike?  No...  The station claimed that everything was expensive and they couldn't afford any more than what our union settled for.  I can't say for certain, I wasn't in on the negotiations.  Within that same year, the station purchased millions of dollars of equipment or lease it so that they can keep up in the pissing war with another station that paid their workers more.  The GM also wined and dined advertisers and took some of them on yearly (perhaps more often than that) trips overseas.  He axed company moral boosting events like station parties and other incentives that used to be passed down and around.  All this money and he, as well as the parent company which owned stations from NY to PR to Hawaii and produced sporting shows to tout on these stations couldn't afford to pay the people who made it all work a fair wage.  Funny, I never remember seeing him crying over monetary woes from behind the wheel of his $40k+ luxury car.  Nah, everything else was more important than us.

So, from where I've been, I suppose I can see myself supporting it. But I bet they get paid more than I ever had.

p.s.  If they're on strike in NY, don't get your hopes up on sneaking in on some work.  It's illegal  for companies to hire replacement workers for strikers.