Hotcards, Full Color Printing In The Nation

Striking writers have better union printing, but is the Broadway shutdown mightier than the pen?

In New York, Local One, a union of Broadway stagehands (parent union: International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees), is on strike. The strike began Saturday when talks broke down between Local One and the League of American Theatres and Producers.

I thought this strike was very worth mentioning because I should remember that the Writers Guild of America are not the only union on strike in this country, despite what my postings over the last week would have you believe.

The funny thing is that the WGA takes offense to the lack of media coverage their strike is receiving. In truth, they are receiving a phenomenal amount of coverage – for a strike, that is.

The WGA is receiving (relatively) little attention in the media, not because the studios are burying the story, but because in general, the media pays scant attention to strikes beyond a quick story here and there at the local level. In fact, the WGA, with their celebrity guests and well-coordinated colors, are strike superstars.

Stagehand strikers hit the picket line Saturday morning, union printing held high. They’re getting a bit of play in the media, to the effect of “isn’t it annoying that NY tourists can’t see their Broadway plays?” but from a design perspective, they unfortunately lack the style to be as eminently newsworthy as the WGA.

Is the invisibility problem due to the quality of union print design? The stagehands’ signs are, unfortunately, rather plain, and far too copy=heavy to get their message across. Their flyers are also awkward from a print design perspective, bearing the slightly threatening slogan, “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.”

Any member of the WGA could tell you that these words do not a sympathetic public create.

But we can’t all be writers, (and I include myself in this critique). The WGA has the incredible advantage of being full of talented artists that know how to sling together a compelling argument. Their union printing is glossy, slick, and it looks good on the six o’clock news, which is why it’s getting any play at all.

I’m not trying to criticize the WGA, or any striking union. I just wish that all workers issues were taken more seriously by the media, and not just when they involve people that are already celebrities.

Of course, the WGA may be more in need of media hype than Local One. After all, since the stagehands have walked, many Broadway plays have been completely shutdown. TV viewers, on the other hand, are still enjoying a backlog of already completed shows. This means that the WGA has to make a hell of a lot of noise before it becomes a force to be reckoned with. A phalanx of elderly tour groups from the Midwest missing Mama Mia! on the other hand, are truly terror-inducing.

It will be interesting, and instructive, to see how long each strike lasts, and how it is resolved.