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Something to be applauded, but I fear that this may be too little too late, especially considering Buzzfeed's heavy dependency on "community content" (read: unp

Something to be applauded, but I fear that this may be too little too late, especially considering Buzzfeed's heavy dependency on "community content" (read: unpaid work).

ng12 8y ago
This is what unions are for. SAG exists (in part) so greedy studios don't cast desperate actors without pay.
Barrin92 8y ago
>Something to be applauded, but I fear that this may be too little too late Well you could also see it as history repeating itself. We're only at the start of the new gilded age and now it's service workers and people higher up the value chain that are seeing the consequences of squeezes in the work place. Maybe this time around it'll be IT workers and journalists who discover that organised labour exists.
- dmix 8y ago
  As far as I can tell the vast majority of unions almost entirely existed in dead industries that all moved to China (and now that China's wages are rising as they develop mature markets to other countries behind the times) or have very close connections to gov work.
  - detaro 8y ago
    Hollywood actors and screenwriters moved to China?
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
  - Arn_Thor 8y ago
    Those developments didn't occur in a vacuum. American industry and politicians have for half a century worked tirelessly to crush American unions or render them as ineffective as possible. There are plenty of examples of countries with strong unions, solid industry/services sectors and workers that aren't being exploited (read: underpaid, overworked, poor or unsafe working conditions, etc.). Every benefit you have as an employee that is enshrined in law was fought for by a union!
    - CryptoPunk 8y ago
      That is not true. Unions totally dominated major industries in the US. Most of those that didn't outsource saw themselves become uncompetitive and lose market share to foreign competitors. Public services that unionized saw costs go up and quality stagnate or decrease. >There are plenty of examples of countries with strong unions, solid industry/services sectors and workers that aren't being exploited Like what? Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Germany? Any countries without strong work ethics and a tradition of engineering excellence? As for the Northern European zone, how has wage growth been in there these past 40 years?
      - Arn_Thor 8y ago
        > Unions totally dominated major industries in the US. Yes. They DID. And since their heyday they've been sliced and diced at until there's nearly nothing left today. >As for the Northern European zone, how has wage growth been in there these past 40 years? Not a lot. But that's the case for all of the west, and certainly also for the US. Meanwhile, quality of life and happiness in those countries has risen. The US, on the other hand..
        CryptoPunk 8y ago
        That's ahistorical. The reason union membership rates declined is that the industries they dominated shrank. By and large the unions killed their own industries. For example, passenger rail service was bankrupted by the punishing collective bargaining agreements the Brotherhoods coerced passenger rail lines into. >>Not a lot. But that's the case for all of the west, and certainly also for the US. Yes, and a large part of that is that any investor knows that any large stable concentration of skilled workers in the West will unionize and began extracting above market wages. That's why the only unionized sectors in the West that have seen significant growth are those paid for by the taxpayer.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]

Something to be applauded, but I fear that this may be too little too late, especially considering Buzzfeed's heavy dependency on "community content" (read: unpaid work).

ng12 8y ago

This is what unions are for. SAG exists (in part) so greedy studios don't cast desperate actors without pay.

Barrin92 8y ago

>Something to be applauded, but I fear that this may be too little too late Well you could also see it as history repeating itself. We're only at the start of the new gilded age and now it's service workers and people higher up the value chain that are seeing the consequences of squeezes in the work place. Maybe this time around it'll be IT workers and journalists who discover that organised labour exists.

dmix 8y ago
As far as I can tell the vast majority of unions almost entirely existed in dead industries that all moved to China (and now that China's wages are rising as they develop mature markets to other countries behind the times) or have very close connections to gov work.
- detaro 8y ago
  Hollywood actors and screenwriters moved to China?
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- Arn_Thor 8y ago
  Those developments didn't occur in a vacuum. American industry and politicians have for half a century worked tirelessly to crush American unions or render them as ineffective as possible. There are plenty of examples of countries with strong unions, solid industry/services sectors and workers that aren't being exploited (read: underpaid, overworked, poor or unsafe working conditions, etc.). Every benefit you have as an employee that is enshrined in law was fought for by a union!
  - CryptoPunk 8y ago
    That is not true. Unions totally dominated major industries in the US. Most of those that didn't outsource saw themselves become uncompetitive and lose market share to foreign competitors. Public services that unionized saw costs go up and quality stagnate or decrease. >There are plenty of examples of countries with strong unions, solid industry/services sectors and workers that aren't being exploited Like what? Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Germany? Any countries without strong work ethics and a tradition of engineering excellence? As for the Northern European zone, how has wage growth been in there these past 40 years?
    - Arn_Thor 8y ago
      > Unions totally dominated major industries in the US. Yes. They DID. And since their heyday they've been sliced and diced at until there's nearly nothing left today. >As for the Northern European zone, how has wage growth been in there these past 40 years? Not a lot. But that's the case for all of the west, and certainly also for the US. Meanwhile, quality of life and happiness in those countries has risen. The US, on the other hand..
      - CryptoPunk 8y ago
        That's ahistorical. The reason union membership rates declined is that the industries they dominated shrank. By and large the unions killed their own industries. For example, passenger rail service was bankrupted by the punishing collective bargaining agreements the Brotherhoods coerced passenger rail lines into. >>Not a lot. But that's the case for all of the west, and certainly also for the US. Yes, and a large part of that is that any investor knows that any large stable concentration of skilled workers in the West will unionize and began extracting above market wages. That's why the only unionized sectors in the West that have seen significant growth are those paid for by the taxpayer.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]