Sunday, October 28, 2007

Now the DGA Disagrees With the Writers' Strike Rules

Turns out it's not only the IA that demurs from some WGA strike rules:

"It is an essential element of our basic agreement that the guild not only refrain from striking during the term of the basic agreement, but also that the guild assure employers that our members will continue to perform DGA-covered services during the term of the basic agreement," the Directors Guild said. "These provisions are treated very seriously by the companies and the courts, and we take these obligations very seriously as well."

"...[I]f you are employed as a director and these services are needed on your project, and your employer has requested in writing that you continue working, then you would be contractually obligated to perform them ... You may be subject to discharge and claims of breach of contract by an employer if you refuse to do so."

Like I've said, the basic problem here is overreaching. The Writers Guild has every right to enforce discipline inside its jurisdiction, but no right to discipline members who work outside it.

Pretty simple concept.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Perhaps more importantly, the Teamsters are supporting the strike, and urging all their members to not cross any picket lines. This could shut down productions faster than any other action, since if they're not doing location managment or driving, not much else is going to get done.

Steve Hulett said...

Then let's hope the strike is short and successful.

If it's short, then everybody else in Tinsel Town won't be too negatively impacted.

And if it's successful (i.e., bigger resids), then it will translate into more and better bennies for other unionized Hollywood workers.

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