The Public Employees Federation (PEF), New York’s second largest state-employee union, representing 9,000 professional, scientific and technical state employees, as well as hundreds of employees in local government agencies, including the Albany County Probation Department and Albany Housing Authority, Thursday announced its endorsement of Corey Ellis in his bid for mayor of Albany.
Ellis, City Councilman from Albany’s Third Ward, has already received the endorsement of the Working Families Party in his quest to unseat four-term incumbent Jerry Jennings. With the PEF support, he can now expect to get a sizeable volunteer army in his get out the vote efforts.
In the Democratic-controlled city, victory in the September primary all but assureds victory in November, but now should Ellis finish just short of a win, he may have sufficient reason, as well as a ballot line, on which to continue the race through to the general election. Today’s endorsement however, makes this race tighter than Jennings expected.
Three thousand miles away, in California’s 10th Congressional District race, the moment of truth comes much sooner for underdog challenger, Anthony Woods. The primary is September 1. However in a crowded field that includes more established, well-known and experienced politicians, Woods picked up an endorsement from the Bay Area Reporter, a gay and lesbian newspaper that has come out in support of this openly gay, African American Iraq War veteran.
…it is more than Woods’s sexual orientation that leads us to recommend him to East Bay voters. Woods would bring a fresh perspective to Congress which has become mired in special interests and hyperbole. One need look no further than the current debate over health care reform; there are not enough progressive Democrats and Republicans are swooping in to kill any effort at real reform.
Finally, New Yorkers who want to vote in the September 15 primary for mayor, public advocate, comptroller, Manhattan DA and a host of city council seats, need to register by Friday, August 21.
While we still wait to hear from the “leader of the Democratic Party in New York State,” New York City Democratic Mayoral candidate and current city Comptroller Bill Thompson has been racking up endorsements from other influential sources this week including a major labor union that will announce their support today.
Saturday, the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1056 officially backed Thompson, then Wednesday, Staten Island State Senator Diane Savino officially gave her endorsement, which may open doors in that traditionally Republican borough.
Now comes word that District Council 37, representing 120,000 city government workers, will come out in support of Thompson. The union, made up of many office-based workers, like secretaries, accountants and social workers, had supported Mayor Bloomberg in the 2005 election, which was a departure for the traditionally Democratic-leaning organization.
Update: Perhaps the “leader of the Democratic Party in New York State” has made an endorsement afterall?
Striking members of the Writers Guild of America East and West are reviewing terms of a contract proposal from motion picture and television producers that could end the three month walkout and get writers back to work possibly as early as Monday. More noteworthy is the early report that writers may have gotten most of what they wanted in the agreement.
Writers staged a strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers largely over residual rights to produced work that airs on the internet or that is sold via DVD. Producers have kept all of the revenue for themselves despite the fact that the entertainment industry is moving more and more product into these new technologies. Writers have been asking for as little as 2 cents on the dollar, but the tight-fisted producers have continued to play Scrooge.
But with the industry’s premiere event, the Academy Awards, just weeks away and the threat of a repeat of this year’s Golden Globe Awards, where there was no ability to use writers and nominees who were members of the Screen Actors Guild and the Directors Guild stayed away in a show of support, producers had incentive to come to their senses and return to the bargaining table.
UPDATE: This editorial in today’s Los Angeles Times suggests the strike was worth it.
As reported here just days ago, Ellen Degeneres was supposed to come to New York next week to tape her talk show, despite an industry-wide walkout by television writers seeking future compensation for internet and DVD use of televised material. But today she changed her mind.A spokesperson for the show confirmed that Degeneres has cancelled her plans but explained, “We make changes all the time. Our schedule is always fluid.
“Writers Guild of America, East President Michael Winship responded in a statement, “She knows that the Writers Guild East would have been there to protest her lack of solidarity, not only with her Guild writing staff but all the striking members of the Writers Guild, of which she is a member.
“Meanwhile on Broadway, Local One of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) and the League of American Theatres and Producers have agreed to go back to the negotiating table this weekend, at an undisclosed location. Broadway stagehands walked the picket lines beginning last Saturday morning when talks broke down over producers’ efforts to cut workforces by 38%.
While 27 Broadway theaters have gone dark, business is brisk for off Broadway and off off Broadway shows, and if ever there was time to dine out in midtown, it’s now. There is no waiting at most restaurants in the theater district.
It has been an exciting week in show business with labor action affecting both the television and theatrical communities.
Last Monday, members of the Writers Guild of America walked off the set, shutting down production on the late night talk shows, sitcoms and any dramas that hadn’t put enough episodes in the can. The issue is over compensation for internet and DVD usage of produced product. Writers want a piece of the pie, greedy producers want to keep it all for themselves.
As all of us realize, the future of all media is on the internet. No one buys CDs any more, we all download. Networks increasingly release their first run programming on YouTube or other websites, or put out DVDs of entire seasons so viewers can watch the reruns at their own discretion. Currently, writers, actors and directors–the creative people without whom there would be no television–get little if any of the revenue generated from these non-broadcast means of distribution.Writer/comedian and Writers Guild member Tim Kazurinsky, appeared recently on Chicago television station WGN and broke it all down.
Next June, contracts between producers and members of the Screen Actors Guild and the Directors Guild of America expire and the same issues are on the table. Everyone is watching how this negotiating plays out to see if producers will come to their senses and share the revenue, or if they will remain the selfish idiots we’ve always known them to be, and force a walkout by actors and directors.
(In 2000, while still a working actor, I spent five months on the picket line when SAG and AFTRA struck commercial producers, over the very same issue of residuals and internet airing of advertising. I learned first hand how soulless producers are.)
While most performers stand behind their union brothers on the writing side, not everyone is. Apparently, comedian and talk show host Ellen Degeneres has chosen to go on with her show despite the strike. She will come to New York November 19th and 20th to tape her show. Members of the Writers Guild of America East plan a frosty reception.
On the theatrical front, when talks between Local One of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) broke down in their negotiations with the League of American Theatres and Producers, that union representing stagehands authorized a strike. At 11am on Saturday, November 10th members of Local One set up picket lines shutting down nearly all of Broadway.
A total of 35 shows are currently running, with the majority of them affected by the strike. The non-profit houses and a handful of others operate under separate contracts and will remain open. They include: The New Amsterdam (Mary Poppins), Helen Hayes Theatre (Xanadu), Hilton Theatre (Young Frankenstein), Circle in the Square (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), American Airlines Theatre (Pygmalion), Studio 54 (The Ritz) and Biltmore Theatre (Mauritius) and Vivian Beaumont (Cymbeline).
Explaining their situation to confused ticket-holders, the union issued the following statement:
Theatre owners and producers are demanding a 38 % cut in our jobs and wages. They have built a $20 million fund to be used against us from the sale of theatre tickets to the public.
Broadway is a billion dollar a year industry and has never been more profitable than now.Cuts in our jobs and wages will never result in a cut in ticket prices to benefit the public, but only an increase in the profits for producers.Unlike the producers, we are not fighting for our second or third homes; we are fighting to keep the one that we have.
We ask for your understanding in our efforts to defend ourselves and protect our families.
The strike will not effect off Broadway or off off Broadway plays however, which in my opinion, usually offer more interesting shows anyway. Attendance was up by about 30% over the weekend at off-Broadway houses and at least 57 non-Broadways shows are running.
Writers Guild of America, East statement concerning Ellen Degeneres LINK Writers Guild of America, WestLINK International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Local One LINK