The emergence of digital delivery to handheld devices like the iPod made by Apple looks like nirvana to some in the world of studios and networks desperate to replace revenue streams that are levelling off in DVD and other formats. But this recent article on Wired.com reminds us how non-union sweatshop conditions help underpin the global entertainment industry. (Ironically, or tragically, some in the labor movement – like Andy Stern at SEIU – and some in academia like Kent Wong at UCLA and Katie Quan at UC Berkeley – have been cozying up to China recently despite the complete absence of genuine labor unions there. For more, see my blog on global labor: http://globallabor.blogspot.com/)
STEPHEN F. DIAMOND
A legal scholar and political scientist at Santa Clara University in Silicon Valley.
