Member-only story
“Efficiency” left the Big Three vulnerable to smart UAW tactics
A system without slack is easily disrupted.
This Friday (September 22), I’m (virtually) presenting at the DIG Festival in Modena, Italy. That night, I’ll be in person at LA’s Book Soup for the launch of Justin C Key’s The World Wasn’t Ready for You. On September 27, I’ll be at Chevalier’s Books in Los Angeles with Brian Merchant for a joint launch for my new book The Internet Con and his new book, Blood in the Machine.
It’s been 143 days since the WGA went on strike against the Hollywood studios. While early tactical leaks from the studios had studio execs chortling and twirling their mustaches about writers caving once they started losing their homes, the strikers aren’t wavering — they’re still out there, pounding the picket lines, every weekday:
The studios obviously need writers. That gleeful, anonymous studio exec who got such an obvious erotic charge at the thought of workers being rendered homeless as punishment for challenging his corporate power completely misread the room, and his comments didn’t demoralize the writers. Instead, they inspired the actors to go on strike, too.
