On Javelins, Crushed Toes, And The Ultimate Weapon
The LAT reports on the tensions between the Writers Guild and IATSE, whose leader believes that the WGA is poaching its members and scaring Hollywood into a de facto strike with its guerrilla tactics. Guild inside baseball is generally pretty dull and interunion membership squabbles even more so, but there's something really entertaining about it all when overblown war rhetoric creeps into the situation:
Further angering [International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees president Tom] Short are the guild's organizing efforts under Patric M. Verrone, president of the WGA, West. Short believes that Verrone is stepping on his toes by trying to organize animation writers as well as reality TV editors — two groups that historically fall under Short's umbrella.
"How can I work with someone that throws a javelin through my heart?" Short said. [...]
"The strike is the ultimate weapon," Verrone said. "We are not bound and determined to use it, because we think we have a number of other tactics." [...]
"I'm not looking to pick a fight with Tommy," Verrone said. "We have a common enemy."
Can't we all just get along? If they would just listen to one another and join forces against a common enemy, they could put those javelins where they belong: in the hearts of studio executives, who are probably delighted to watch the unions waste their time on a pissing match while they're figuring out new ways to screw them.
