The Rocket

Issue date: 11/16/07 Section: Opinion

I don't know if anybody's been watching or reading the news lately, but even if you haven't, most of us have noticed the lack of late-night programming.

"The Colbert Report," "The Daily Show," "The Late Show with David Letterman," "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno"…all of these shows have been reruns lately because of a writer's strike in Hollywood.

The Writers Guild of America went on strike over how much money writers make from sales of their work, whether online, on mobile phones or DVDs.

Now, I don't know about you, but I tend to think that writers should be paid an equitable amount any time their work is sold and seen.

Other people involved with these shows make money from these kinds of media. Why shouldn't the writers?

Stagehands in the union Local One in New York City are on strike right now, and recently, the United Auto Workers union went on strike as well before reaching a deal with their General Motors employers.

Locally, however, I've heard whispers about the Seneca Valley teachers being on strike. Go figure the logic behind this one, but the teachers wanted a raise in pay, as well as a fair-and-balanced healthcare plan.

Apparently Shaler Area School District teachers have also declared that they will strike later this month if a new contract is not agreed upon. They have the same issues as Seneca Valley does, in terms of benefits and salaries.

I have even seen news articles concerning people who wish to ban teacher strikes in the Pennsylvania constitution, following suit with many other states that have similar bans in place.

Pennsylvania has more teacher strikes than any of the other states that still allow them, and I'd like to present the idea to you that maybe, just maybe, Pennsylvania is screwing their teachers over more than other states. Maybe that's why they're unhappy and go on strike in the first place.

I was reading the newspaper the other day and came across a comment from a whiny Seneca Valley student moaning about how the teachers were just being selfish and how she just wanted to be back in school. I'm sure the teachers want to be back in school just as much as many students do. Teachers don't strike for the purpose of poking the establishment in the eye: They do it because they are standing up for what they believe is right, and I commend these unionized writers, stagehands and teachers for banding together and striking.

It's not exactly sunshine and daisies when workers decide to stop working. Workers try to reach an agreement for months before a strike. It's not a split-second decision.

When it comes right down to it, some unions have the guts to do what it takes to get a decent contract, while others back off and settle for mediocrity.

Our generation-namely current university students-seem to take unions for granted. We like things to be cushy, and we'll only stand up for what we think is right through the anonymity of Facebook groups and LiveJournal blogs.

We need to look back at labor leaders like Joe Hill and Cesar Chavez and realize that the issue does not reside with unions, but rather with the "powers that be"-the establishments in this country. Workers need to be treated fairly and humanely, and unions are there to keep the workers from being taken advantage of.

They are an important part of American history and life, and should not be dismissed merely as a group of selfish moneygrubbers-and don't even get me started on Wal-Mart's lack of unions. That's another column in and of itself.

Lisbeth Wells-Pratt is a freshman creative writing major and a regular contributor to The Rocket.

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