Re: RAT Scabs and other wounds in need of healing

[Matthew Bretz <mabretz@cbomedia.com>]

dead on.  thank you.

matty

schedlinski wrote:

> To weigh in on the richard carter situation, though as
> a not-even-an-actor, let alone a union one, I perhaps
> have no right to, it seems a live and tense issue.
>
> I think that the divisiveness created by both sides of
> the issue here are exactly what plays into management
> hands during a strike. Trying to get those striking
> and supporting the strike to fight each other rather
> than focus on the groups who are continuing to shoot,
> who are fighting the legitimate demands of the union,
> and who are (to cite a RAT list example) moving
> production to South Africa only limits our power.
>
> Yes, scabbing is a bad thing -- though I'd weigh in
> that "selfish" is a better word than "inhumane," since
> inhumane requires the kind of consideration that it
> doesn't seem the actor used. Jonathan is right to tell
> us, should we meet him, to speak to him, to let him
> know he let people down. But by the same token, he is
> deserving more of pity than spite, since he after all
> made a difficult choice in a difficult position. The
> only HUAC parallel that makes sense to me is one where
> the actor is like someone called before the committee
> who gave names, and in doing so saved his skin but
> lost his friends. For that, we ought to feel sorry for
> him, though we ought to feel sorry with no warmth.
>
> In any case, during any strike there will be scabs,
> and the scabs are really a distraction from the issue
> at hand. In some strikes the scabs are people who are
> so desperate that in order to marginally improve their
> standard of living they must break the strike -- these
> people are victims of management as well. It would be
> an act of generosity on our part to view scabs in this
> strike the same way.
>
> And moreover, I hope we don't let our differences on
> this issue interfere with our committment to the
> grander issue at hand.
>
> rm schedlinski
>
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