WGAE Slams Right to Work Bill

Writers in the broadcast, cable, film and digital businesses took aim Friday at a National Right to Work bill introduced this week by Reps. Steve King (R-Iowa) and Joe Wilson (R-S.C.).

"At least 80 percent of Americans are opposed to forcing employees to pay dues as a condition of their employment, and our bill would protect workers by eliminating the forced-dues clauses in federal statute," said King of the bill. 

The Writers Guild of America, East, which represents those writers, took aim at the legislation Friday.

"There’s a bitter irony here: The far-right claims to support the newly-elected president’s promise to first and foremost use the federal government to advance the interests of the American worker, but with this legislation they aim to wipe out the workers’ most dedicated advocates," said WGAE president Michael Winship and executive director Lowell Peterson in a joint statement.

“The best way to advance the interests of the American worker is to use collective bargaining to strengthen the voice of workers on the job. Defunding the entire structure of workers’ voices will only hasten the decline of our standard of living," they said.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.