As a writer and musician, I know all too well how willing people are to exploit your artistic passion. I’ve been shafted at gigs before, like the time I sang at a wedding and the guy who hired me said, “Well, you don’t really need to be paid. This is your passion, and it’s good enough for you to share your gifts.” No, a-hole. Pay up. You hired me to perform a service, we signed a contract, and you will fulfill the terms of that contract. No more, no less. Artists have the right to be fairly compensated for their work by employers. However, if the terms of the deal don’t meet their needs, then they should find another employer. Artists by definition are skilled workers, and they have many options to pay the bills. But this is only one of the reasons that I oppose the strike of the Writers’ Guild of America.

I have a lot of friends who are set builders, caterers, florists, PAs, camera operators, and producers. They are not part of the Writers’ Guild, which explains why the union has selfishly decided to strike without any concern for the ripple effect this will have on others. Thousands and thousands of people are at risk of losing their homes and livelihoods because the writers want more money. We’re not talking about a strike that occurred because unreasonable hours were required, or because workers were losing limbs in dangerous machinery. It’s just about money, and it’s hurting innocent people.

The point of unions is to protect the basic rights of the people. But white-collar unions like the WGA and the Screen Actors’ Guild do nothing but create a cartel that shuts out fresh talent and ignores the rights of everyone beneath them on the Hollywood food chain. Skilled artisans like actors and writers have no need to unionize. If they’re really good, then their skills will be in demand. It is an act of economic terrorism to bring Los Angeles’ third most valuable industry to a screeching halt over a purely financial issue.

Yes, Hollywood executives are evil. I know. But what’s worse? Executives withholding DVD and online revenue from writers, or writers withholding employment of any kind from everyone else in the industry and not allowing them to have any participation in the decision making process? This situation is no different from the intellectual terrorism brought onto children when teachers strike over wages.

I’m firmly of the opinion that unions have largely outlived their purpose, because basic human rights are now legally protected in this country. Unionizing is only necessary in an environment where there is no legal course of action for workers who have little to no ability to work for a different employer. The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 was a necessary act of unionization. The Pullman strike was necessary to show how uneducated blue collar workers could be starved into submission by the government and powerful rail magnates with the power of blacklisting.

Unions used to be critical for the social advancement of our society because no power or legal options were available to the exploited. When 150 young women perished in a warehouse fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in New York in 1911, it was because they’d been locked in to prevent theft by employees. The public outrage from that led to action by the government against employers who held their workers in virtual slavery.

Writers have many career options. They knew going into a Hollywood career that they would be working for some of the greediest cokeheads on the planet. It’s astounding to me that they would act so shocked that their greedy cokehead bosses would not want to pay them what they actually deserve in the form of residuals from DVD sales and online content. It is a matter of fact that massive businesses exploit passionate, creative people. As a price tag for being able to work in their chosen industry, those workers generally accept that they will not be paid very well. Teachers, writers, and other creative career folk know they will never get wealthy. But they choose to do it anyway– nobody is forcing them. The writers of SNL aren’t exactly going to get beat up by Lorne Michaels’ goons for not getting back to work.

That is the critical difference between disenfranchised serfs, Pullman car operators, textile mill workers, and child laborers and Hollywood writers. Strikes were originally intended to protest the violation of basic human rights– health, safety, dignity, and self-determination. Early strikes occurred because there was no legal option available to them. This is not the case today. Workers of all stripes, but especially white collar employees, are protected from discrimination and have legal channels of action in the courts. Instead of turning to legislators to pass laws or suing their employers in court, the Writers’ Guild of America has turned to economic terrorism.

Yes, it is wrong for Hollywood to withhold a share of DVD and online revenue from the creators of the content. I agree with that. But it’s not illegal, and that’s why the WGA has taken the wrong approach to solving the problem. The Clayton Act of 1914 ended the treatment of human labor as a commodity. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 established a minimum wage, overtime, and banned oppressive child labor. There are still causes for strikes in our modern economy, but only if there is some kind of moral or ethical issue involved. That doesn’t include white collar workers who have the resources to sue, lobby for legislation, or find a better paying job elsewhere. Especially if it means hurting innocent bystanders.