This may be one reason employers want the State/Party backed ACFTU in their workplaces in China!
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Credit Crunch Heading West – Terrible Timing for Guilds
The headlines coming from Wall Street these days sing only one tune: the end of cheap credit. That means interest rates are rising and the risks associated with companies that have borrowed heavily or those buyout funds that use leverage to take over companies are headed for tough times. But it may surprise folks to learn that this will impact Hollywood, too, and the timing could not be worse. One of the trends that has not gotten enough attention in the EMI sector is the role of private equity in changing the ownership structure of big media companies. Now the funds that the big studios increasinly rely on to produce films may get more scarce and come with tougher terms. That means heavier going on the financial side of the business just as the Guilds try to make their case in contract negotiations.
Beyond the Berle and Means Paradigm: Private Equity and the New Capitalist Order
I have blogged about the important role that private equity funds play in the global econmy and about their impact on the labor movement. I decided to take a closer look at the nature of PE funds and the impact they are having on corporate governance. A copy of my paper can be accessed here. As it is still a draft, I welcome comments.
Private Equity and the New Capitalist Order
I have blogged here about the important role that private equity funds play in the new Hollywood. I decided to take a closer look at the nature of PE funds and the impact they are having on corporate governance. A copy of my paper can be accessed here. As it is still a draft, I welcome comments.
SSRN-Beyond the Berle and Means Paradigm: Private Equity and the New Capitalist Order
I have blogged here about the important role that private equity funds now play in corporate America. I decided to take a closer look at the nature of PE funds and the impact they are having on corporate governance. A copy of my paper can be accessed here. As it is still a draft, I welcome comments.
Bit Player: LA Times blog
Finding a single source that helps keep one abreast of all of the new technological developments that may impact the EMI sector is certainly not easy. I live and work in the heart of Silicon Valley a stone’s throw from the most important VC funds and technology companies in the world and many of my students come from technology companies on their way into law firms that represent tech cos. and I am still amazed at how hard it is to keep track of the changes underway much less sort out their social and political implications.
But I came across this blog on the LA Times site today that is trying to cover this arena and thought I would bring it to everyone’s attention. It is called “Bit Player” (get it?) and as an example it has a couple of posts this week on the very interesting debate about webcasting royalties that is underway. So check it out. I will add a link to it here alongside a few other blogs that I think are helpful in this arena.
Marketplace: Unions bend to private equity realities
I was interviewed this morning on NPR regarding the impact of private equity on workers.
What happened in Sacramento?
The LA-based film business and its affiliated unions appear to have badly miscalculated the lay of the land in Sacramento recently and according to this article in the LA Times lost more than $145 million in tax credits aimed at securing employment in the California film industry. Other states like New Mexico and New York have passed similar measures with wide support. What went wrong?
Late last year the S.A.G. made headlines by inviting the #2 AFL-CIO leader to address them in LA, hired a senior AFL-CIO union official as their new NED and joined a new AFL-CIO coordinating body in Washington with other EMI sector unions. Why do I mention this? Because according to the LA Times the people who killed the tax credits were some of the AFL-CIO’s closest political allies! Further, the California Labor Federation, which is the AFL-CIO’s entity in this state, has one of the most effective Sacramento lobbying organizations (something I witnessed first hand when I was part of the effort to restore Cal/OSHA back in the day), led for years by Tom Rankin, who recently retired (and presumably could have been asked to help out). Shouldn’t the EMI uions like S.A.G. have been able to count on the support of the AFL in this critical battle?
It may not have helped that the SEIU-affiliated and therefore non-AFL-CIO California State Employees Association (of which I was a member and officer for several years) was led to believe that these credits were for special interest groups, as the SF Chronicle reported here: Senate convenes to debate thorny budget bill CSEA/SEIU broke away from the AFL-CIO last year and that has allowed for some thorny conflicts to develop. CSEA represents state employees and of course supports greater tax revenue. Somehow they ignored the argument that properly targeted tax credits can create larger tax revenues. Either the argument was not made effectively or not enough political pressure was brought to bear so that the CSEA would see the light.
And to make this really sting, Democratic leader Sen. Don Perata (who is regularly endorsed by the AFL-CIO and other labor groups) is quoted in the Times as saying that the tax credits would have taken money out of the mouths of needy schoolchildren! For some reason the lobbying effort around this went the wrong way from the get go. Why can’t the EMI labor movement make a winning argument? After all, they represent a huge employer that can only grow tax revenues for the state if allowed to stay competitve. This should be a no-brainer. But a similar bill failed two years ago. Perhaps instead of paying so much attention to the capitol on the Potomac, the EMI unions need to pay more attention to the prosaic but critical capitol in the Valley.
Proposed entertainment tax credits face a not-so-Hollywood ending – Los Angeles Times
Score one for the WGA!
WIth the abrupt move just reported in Variety, the Producers may have backed themselves into a corner. Federal labor law requires that parties bargain in good faith – which means that you cannot just put a single position on the table and stick to it come hell or high water. But with the choice of a new media study or the net profit approach gone, now all that is left is the proposal to completely toss the current residual based system. Unilateral demands to revamp entire compensation systems rarely succeed. Even the U.S. auto industry – far more troubled than the film business – has fought for decades about compensation structures without much change. One is tempted to imagine the discussions inside the AMPTP: tell me, Mr. Counter, you do have other arguments? (Yes, I admit it, I did recently watch a re-run of The Verdict.)
Lionsgate sees boom in high-def DVD; huge growth in download revenue
A key union demand in the negotiations between writers and producers now begun in Hollywood is to raise the percentage of DVD revenue that goes to labor. Since the days of videotape and betamax (!) only 20% of the total revenue generated by the distribution of DVDs is subject to collective bargaining. The Writers Guild is demanding that that amount be raised to 40%. While some have argued that DVD revenue is softening as internet based distribution systems come online, there is still a lot of life in the DVD environment as Lionsgate, for example, sees it. In fact, it could take a decade or more for the new online/mobile distribution world to take hold and in the meantime DVDs will still be a money maker for the industry. In 2000 for example Vodafone bragged that its 150 billion takeover of German giant Mannesmann was justified because of the impending roll out of 3G phones – but they are still not here!
Also note that the Lionsgate research report predicts an 8 fold increase in internet down load revenue (granted, from a relatively low starting point)! And yet the producers have proposed to “study” the issue for three years! This report indicates two things: there is money being made and to be made from digital downloads AND there is real data available now.