I’m trying to muster up sympathy for the television writers who might or might not go on strike because of a dispute over the myriad ways in which their work is being distributed (Internet, DVDs, etc.), for which their current contract doesn’t include any compensation.
Where I’m stuck, though, as someone who has worked in the B2B side of things for more than eight years, is the fact that I’ve watched as editors' workloads have increased beyond writing for print to include writing original content for the Web, writing for podcasts, Webcasts, speaking at seminars, planning two-day conferences and more, and yet, I don’t see the compensation levels for those additional responsibilities growing, and in fact, I see the staffs of most publications shrinking since I’ve entered the biz.
James Poniewozik wrote an interesting piece for Time’s Web site a few days ago that was the impetus for me thinking about this. The WGA wants its members to be compensated for the extra distribution channels in which the same content is being used. But what I say is this: How do we in the B2B space get fairly compensated or better balanced workloads for the
extra work we do in order to take advantage of the ever-changing content distribution models?
Labels: B2B, compensation, Labor wars, publishing, trade press, WGA, writers unions
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