The Australian union and the Hobbit
I got sent documents over the weekend from a film industry source, detailing the outraegous behaviour of the Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance, an Australian union. It seems Disney has already...
View ArticleMEAA union demands are illegal
I blogged on Monday that the demands being made by the Australian MEAA are illegal. Russell Brown covers this issue and a lot more at Public Address. Today the Herald reports that Crown Law has also...
View ArticleMEAA refuses to allow Jackson to attend meeting
NZPA report: Sir Peter Jackson offered to go to an actors’ union meeting last night called over the Hobbit dispute, but was turned down. Spada had attempted to meet with the MEAA to discuss actors’...
View ArticleActors only getting $5k a week
I’ve been saying since the beginning that the stoush over the Hobbit is not over wages,but about a union trying to force people who do not want to be in the union to join it. The Herald reports: MEAA...
View ArticleHerald on Sunday on The Hobbit
The HoS editorial: But plainly the actors want to discuss a collective agreement – essentially unionising the workplace – in order to ensure that wages and conditions are protected. On the face of it,...
View ArticleWho needs US$500m – NZ doesn’t
Michael Field at Stuff reports: Sir Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit is set to be the most expensive film made, Hollywood sources reported this weekend. The Daily Telegraph in London said The Hobbit will...
View ArticleWorkers protest against union
The Herald reports: Weta Workshop’s boss Sir Richard Taylor last night said the New Zealand film industry was “at some level of peril”. He said a $670 million US-backed production of Tolkien classic...
View ArticleFisking the CTU
The Herald has the statements from Peter Jackson and the CTU here. I was going to fisk the CTU statement, but Russell Brown has done it far better than I could. And yes, that is not a typo. I do want...
View ArticleThe Hobbit v the CTU
More developments today. First the Dominion Post editorial: Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. The full stupidity of the Actors’ Equity members who arranged an international boycott of The...
View ArticleGlobal boycott started in August
Martin Kay at Stuff reports: Sir Peter Jackson today released a letter which he said proved the actors’ unions had already decided to blacklist The Hobbit before requesting a conversation with him. The...
View ArticleThe 17 August letters
I’ve now got a copy of the full release from Peter Jackson regarding the 17 August global boycott letter, and a copy of the letter itself. Read them both carefully and then try telling me this is not...
View ArticleSPADA v MEAA
I don’t know if anyone out there actually still believes a word the MEAA or CTU has said re The Hobbit dispute, so this is probably flogging a dead horse. But the rebuttal of the MEAA newsletter by...
View ArticleThreats are wrong but beware exagerrations
The Herald reports: Actresses and unionists have received threats, including some against their lives, during the heated row over The Hobbit movie. Police have been called and private security arranged...
View ArticleHooton on “good faith” industrial relations
In the NBR (behind the paywall) Matthew Hooton wrote last week: “Good faith” remains at the centre of New Zealand’s labour laws and, until now, has delivered relatively benign industrial relations. The...
View ArticleThe Hobbit e-mails
Hamish Rutherford at Stuff reports: Sir Peter Jackson was so frustrated by a “snake” union official he was unable to think about The Hobbit for three weeks. Documents released under order by the...
View Article
More Pages to Explore .....