Hollywood is the home of movie making, and the movie industry is big business so it is not surprising that labor unions are considered necessary. Like all unions, the ones in Hollywood were formed to protect the rights of those employed in the industry. Unions in Hollywood first started in the early 1900s due to contract disputes. Back then “studios essentially “owned” their artist” (Ferrell, O. C., Hirt, G. A., & Ferrell, L., 2014) so the actors were unable to work for others in the business. Throughout the years the unions evolved to include work conditions, hours worked, and financial restitutions. Hollywood labor unions are not going anywhere any time soon. In the continuing years issues will arise that will require the actors to use unions
Unions are voluntary associations joined by workers. The Combination Act of 1800, which hindered the growth of unions, states that every workman's goal, who are entering into any combination should not be obtaining an advance of wages, or to lessen or alter the hours, or influencing any other to quit his work. Any workman who did so shall be committed to jail (Doc 1). Although the Combination Act of 1800 prevented the growth of unions, Ralph Chaplin believes that a worker should join the union. He states that there can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun, but the unions, which makes it strong (Doc 2). Since there's so many workers working in bad conditions, the labor laws came to action.
Organized labor, during the period from 1875-1900, had drastic effects on the lives of factory workers. Labor unions not only sought to improve working conditions; they wanted to have a large impact on society as a whole as well. These unions also altered feelings toward organized labor.
Unions have been around for a long time. The first recorded union was in 1792, when shoemakers in Philadelphia met to consider matters of common interest. This earliest form of union was called a craft union. In 1886, the AFL (American Federation of Labor) was founded, and regulated labor activity in America for the next forty years. In the 1930’s, the AFL unionized the steel and automobile industry. A split in the AFL and the CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations) occurred in 1938, but the two later reconciled their differences in 1955, merging their over 16 million members. Federal legislation passed in 1959 gave union members distinct rights, and also required unions to report on their internal operations. Since that time, memberships in unions have significantly decreased.
Throughout the history of the United States of America the continuation of misfortunes for the workforce has aggravated people to their apex, eventually leading to the development of labor unions.
Unions have an extensive history of standing up for workers. They have advocated rights of steelworkers, coal miners, clothing factory employees, teachers, health care workers, and many others. The labor movement is based on the idea that organized workers as a group have more power than individuals would have on their own. The key purpose of any union is to negotiate contracts, making sure workers are respected and fairly compensated for their work. “In theory” unions are democratic organizations, resulting in varying inner authority. Workers look for security within a job a...
During the Gilded Age activists tried improving the conditions of workers and the poor in many ways. In a few ways they were moderately successful but mostly philanthropists didn’t succeed. Between 1875 and 1900 the organized labor, overall, didn’t improve the position of the workers, making them unsuccessful.
Beginning in the late 1700’s and growing rapidly even today, labor unions form the backbone for the American workforce and continue to fight for the common interests of workers around the country. As we look at the history of these unions, we see powerful individuals such as Terrence Powderly, Samuel Gompers, and Eugene Debs rise up as leaders in a newfound movement that protected the rights of the common worker and ensured better wages, more reasonable hours, and safer working conditions for those people (History). The rise of these labor unions also warranted new legislation that would protect against child labor in factories and give health benefits to workers who were either retired or injured, but everyone was not on board with the idea of foundations working to protect the interests of the common worker. Conflict with their industries lead to many strikes across the country in the coal, steel, and railroad industries, and several of these would ultimately end up leading to bloodshed. However, the existence of labor unions in the United States and their influence on their respective industries still resonates today, and many of our modern ideals that we have today carry over from what these labor unions fought for during through the Industrial Revolution.
Labor Unions were created to help people improve their wages, work conditions, hours, and security. Unions impacted the world in a lot of ways and for that we have better lives now, for what they did in the past.” Some key freedoms that we take for granted today- the weekend, for example- were won by labor unions efforts, but we have always been lukewarm about the movement” (History of Labor Unions).
After the Civil War, many ideologies developed into the United States of America. Some of these ideologies included the free labor ideology and the producerist ideology. Free labor endorsed the belief that by removing slavery, or any other kind of barrier, everyone had an equal chance to try to get wealth (Farless). The producerist ideology tried to stay to the customary view of society and it stressed the importance of viewing the community instead of an individual (Farless). With these two ideologies, they had an impact on labor. By believing in the producerist ideology, people would be staying with tradition, and that leaves no change for our world. Many laborers wanted change, which led to problems for the laborers.
As Dr. Hayden has mentioned, there have been fewer instances of unions being used within organizations. Though my current and past employer both had active unions representing the employees, I haven’t had any direct experience with collective bargaining or grievances. At Bemis Inc. the presence of the union was far greater than that of NSWC Crane. My Bemis supervisor did not support the union and had been negatively affected by it within the first year of hire. The many union members who went on strike caused a mass internal confliction of untrained individuals having to perform hazardous manufacturing positions. Steingold mentions employers are not permitted to dismiss or otherwise punish workers who support the unionization (332). Therefore, temporary workers to replace those on strike would have caused further grievance claims from the employees on strike. The combination of lacking personnel and training created unsafe working conditions.
Horrible working conditions in factories have been around since the industrialization era. Although most conditions have changed for majority of the industries, the meat packing industry has yet to experience these improvements. Fast Food Nation publicizes the problems for the employees inside meat packing plants. The affects of the terrible working conditions that employees are put in due to careless employers are shown in Fast Food Nation, which can be addressed by stronger labor unions.
Throughout American history, labor unions have served to facilitate mediation between workers and employers. Workers seek to negotiate with employers for more control over their labor and its fruits. “A labor union can best be defined as an organization that exists for the purpose of representing its members to their employers regarding wages and terms and conditions of employment” (Hunter). Labor unions’ principal objectives are to increase wages, shorten work days, achieve greater benefits, and improve working conditions. Despite these goals, the early years of union formation were characterized by difficulties (Hunter).
Hollywood labor unions are considered necessary because labor unions deal with the employees so that that can receive higher wages, hours, and better working conditions. Union members make more money than non-union because they have someone fighting for them to be appreciated as an employee. Unions go to management and try to negotiate for the unions through bargaining. Sometimes labor unions and management cannot agree on terms and the members need to stand their ground and fight. Sometimes this is done with picketing, strikes, and boycotting. Sometimes after lengthy negotiations and tactical exercises, outside arbitration is called to assist in coming to a resolution agreement. (Ferrell, O.C., Hirt, J.A., & Ferrell, L., 2015, January
In essence, the term New Hollywood refers to the great changes experienced in American film history from the mid-1960’s to the early 1980’s. It is mostly considered as a time of revival. Consequently, during this period, the young filmmakers gained popularity in the industry due to the influence they had after changing the types of film production, marketing and production, and the general approach of film studios to film-making. Also, in the New Hollywood, the director of a movie took a significant role in film production as opposed to the studio being the center stage. Additionally, the work of these young filmmakers was formally innovative, had an abundance of mythic resonance, thematic complexities, anti-establishment features, and morally
CBA  Collective Bargaining Agreements A collective bargaining agreement collectively sets the terms on which an employer offers individual work contracts to each of its employees in the bargaining unit. A bargaining agreement, also herein referred to as a labour agreement, is a legally enforceable written commitment, which states the rights and duties of all parties involved. The labour agreement should be made in good faith and is intended to be observed and not violated. The National Labour Relations Act obligates employers and unions to bargain in good faith concerning terms and conditions of employment, including hours and wages. Like any normal contract, competent parties must enter into a labour agreement.