I am far from qualified to comment
on the deal that the writers got as a result of their 3-month strike. What I can say, is they voted to end the strike overwhelmingly, and that people
who do appear to know what they're talking about are saying that they wouldn't have gotten any more significant movement if they had stayed out. Also important is the fact that they would have gotten nothing from the studios had they not struck for their cause:
"They successfully faced down six multinational media conglomerates and
established a beachhead on the Internet," said Jonathan Handel, former
associate counsel for the Writers Guild of America, West and an
attorney at TroyGould. "When you consider what they were initially
offered and the enormous odds they faced, that's quite an achievement."
That is what it always comes down to when you think about going out on strike, and when you think about coming back in--how much more will we get, and at what cost to whom? The writers have made the win through democratic, grassroots militancy that took on the largest, most entrenched interests and they--by most accounts--beat them. It's a pretty remarkable thing.
In other news,
General Motors is looking to buy out up to 20% of their workforce to replace them lower-paid employees, New York state is
trying to crack down on employers who misclassify their workers as 'independent contractors' to avoid paying benefits and higher wages, and the
AFL-CIO has sent a delegation to Colombia to highlight the perils that face union activists from anti-union vigilantes. They are trying to stop a trade agreement with Colombia until this issue is resolved and the human right to organize is preserved in that country.