dedicated to those who do sound for image
Vote on the Contract
quoted from Steve Nelson ... read this carefully, please.
Dear Friends, Colleagues, Brothers and Sisters,
By now you have received the latest big envelope from the Local, the one containing a scary letter from your Business Agent, another scary letter from the president of our International, the dreaded Memorandum of Agreement and the actual ballot. If you haven’t yet mailed in your ballot I hope you’ll take a moment to read this before you do. I think most of you know me. I’m writing without any official capacity or secret agenda; I’m a sound mixer with a family and a mortgage living and trying to work in California and more than a little worried about the state of things.
Unless you are living in a cave (without internet) I’m sure you’ve been bombarded by lots of material about this proposed deal that we are being urged to ratify – or not.
I am writing to people I know to urge you to vote against ratification of this contract, quite possibly the most concessionary we have ever seen.
And now that we have finally actually seen it, if you can work your way through the obfuscatory language you’ll find a few truly dreadful nuggets. Do you find it interesting that the MoA was not even available until we received it with our ballots, leaving no time to call a meeting to discuss it. Do you get the feeling that this very bad deal is being shoved down our throats as the best we can hope for at this troubled time, practically as a fait accompli?
Do you wonder why, when we have just elected the most pro-labor administration in Washington in many years, we are being bullied into accepting this most concessionary contract?
If you think that the best way to make up the shortfall in our health plan is to force enough people off the plan and out of coverage to make up the difference then this is the contract for you. (Was there ever even consideration of any alternatives to this cold-hearted and catastrophic solution?)
If, when you get called for a “New Media” job (and the definition of “New Media” is frighteningly broad), you like the idea of terms and conditions being “freely negotiable” (read: there are no terms and conditions, no minimums, no guarantees, nothing but P&W), no staffing requirements and job interchangeability, then you’ll love this contract. Of course it's good to establish jurisdiction over New Media, but we need more. Minus the fringes this sounds a lot like the bad old non-union days and I for one have no desire to go back there!
A vote against ratification is not, as they claim, a vote to strike, but a vote to send them back to the table to do better. I have only sympathy for anyone who has to sit across the table from Nick Counter and the AMPTP shock troops, but they’re supposed to be tough guys, too, and it is their job to represent our best interests. This contract signifies an abject failure to do right by us. (News Flash: Counter is retiring March 31 – not soon enough!)
We’re all suffering from fatigue and fear. Strike fatigue, election fatigue, SAG fatigue, contract fatigue, looking for work fatigue. It’s worn us out. We’re stressed and anxious, many of us, even fearful, about the state of the world, the state of our industry and where we’re headed. As much as we’d like to avoid confrontation and have things return to normalcy, this is not the time to lay down. This is the time to draw the line and make sure that our best interests, our jobs and our future are protected by a contract we can believe in.
Please join me and VOTE AGAINST RATIFICATION! WE CAN DO BETTER!
----steve nelson, cas
local 695
Dear Friends, Colleagues, Brothers and Sisters,
By now you have received the latest big envelope from the Local, the one containing a scary letter from your Business Agent, another scary letter from the president of our International, the dreaded Memorandum of Agreement and the actual ballot. If you haven’t yet mailed in your ballot I hope you’ll take a moment to read this before you do. I think most of you know me. I’m writing without any official capacity or secret agenda; I’m a sound mixer with a family and a mortgage living and trying to work in California and more than a little worried about the state of things.
Unless you are living in a cave (without internet) I’m sure you’ve been bombarded by lots of material about this proposed deal that we are being urged to ratify – or not.
I am writing to people I know to urge you to vote against ratification of this contract, quite possibly the most concessionary we have ever seen.
And now that we have finally actually seen it, if you can work your way through the obfuscatory language you’ll find a few truly dreadful nuggets. Do you find it interesting that the MoA was not even available until we received it with our ballots, leaving no time to call a meeting to discuss it. Do you get the feeling that this very bad deal is being shoved down our throats as the best we can hope for at this troubled time, practically as a fait accompli?
Do you wonder why, when we have just elected the most pro-labor administration in Washington in many years, we are being bullied into accepting this most concessionary contract?
If you think that the best way to make up the shortfall in our health plan is to force enough people off the plan and out of coverage to make up the difference then this is the contract for you. (Was there ever even consideration of any alternatives to this cold-hearted and catastrophic solution?)
If, when you get called for a “New Media” job (and the definition of “New Media” is frighteningly broad), you like the idea of terms and conditions being “freely negotiable” (read: there are no terms and conditions, no minimums, no guarantees, nothing but P&W), no staffing requirements and job interchangeability, then you’ll love this contract. Of course it's good to establish jurisdiction over New Media, but we need more. Minus the fringes this sounds a lot like the bad old non-union days and I for one have no desire to go back there!
A vote against ratification is not, as they claim, a vote to strike, but a vote to send them back to the table to do better. I have only sympathy for anyone who has to sit across the table from Nick Counter and the AMPTP shock troops, but they’re supposed to be tough guys, too, and it is their job to represent our best interests. This contract signifies an abject failure to do right by us. (News Flash: Counter is retiring March 31 – not soon enough!)
We’re all suffering from fatigue and fear. Strike fatigue, election fatigue, SAG fatigue, contract fatigue, looking for work fatigue. It’s worn us out. We’re stressed and anxious, many of us, even fearful, about the state of the world, the state of our industry and where we’re headed. As much as we’d like to avoid confrontation and have things return to normalcy, this is not the time to lay down. This is the time to draw the line and make sure that our best interests, our jobs and our future are protected by a contract we can believe in.
Please join me and VOTE AGAINST RATIFICATION! WE CAN DO BETTER!
----steve nelson, cas
local 695
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