Teachers: Michael Moore Hired Non-Union Workers for Union Jobs

[masuki bance]

...As a result of Moore's decision not to use IATSE workers, at least one other national union, the American Federation of Teachers has refused free tickets offered to them from Moore.

"Michael Moore and one of our sister unions, IATSE, are in discussions about concerns that union has. The AFT has decided against accepting free tickets until those issues are resolved," the teachers union said in a statement.

An internal AFT memo, obtained by ABCNews.com, added that the non-union workers hired for the film did not receive health insurance.

The organized labor source said Moore and IATSE were in talks about Moore's decision, but did not know why Moore had used union labor for some jobs and non-union employees for other jobs for which he could have employed union workers.

Moore has been screening his films to union audiences for the past two weeks and made a name for himself by championing autoworkers, like his father, in his first documentary, 1989's "Roger and Me."

Much of his newest film also focuses on union workers. The highlight of "Capitalism: A Love Story" concentrates on the successful six-day sit-in by 240 employees of Republic Windows and Doors in Chicago earlier this year.



Moore's film crew had the only cameras allowed inside the building during the sit-in, which culminated in a $1.35 million severance package from Bank of America. Moore screened the film to Republic employees last week.

After being criticized for using non-union extras in a 2000 music video he shot for the rock band Rage Against the Machine, Moore told the New York Post that he only learned they were hired after the video was completed.

...

"Capitalism: A Love Story" argues that deregulation and greedy business executives undermined the economic system, mostly benefitting the country's richest people at the expense of the working class.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/michael-moore-snubs-union-workers-making-capitalism-love/story?id=8715559

This could have been avoided.

[bbinacan]

1. Seems to be a pattern with him.

He's PT Barnum and we're the suckers.

[Ignis]

4. You've got to be kidding.

Have you seen Roger and Me or any of his early work? You honestly think that this man doesn't care at all about the plight of the American worker?

Is this Opposite Day on DU or something? :shrug:

[bbinacan]

6. One question.

Did he shun union workers?

[Ignis]

7. Woah there with the hostile cross-exam, Perry Mason.

By "shun," do you mean he consciously avoided using any union workers, willfully and intentionally?

Not historically, no (e.g., in the case of the RATM video). In regards to this recent incident, we've really only heard from one side, so I've no clue.

[izquierdista]

5. Speak for yourself

Considering that the story originated in the bowels of Murdochland, I'm going to wait 2, maybe even 3 newscycles to see how this plays out.

[Brickbat]

13. I was pretty much done with Michael Moore when I heard him tap dance about why he bought a Honda to

"punish" GM. Mm-hm, okay then.

[Touchdown]

2. I think I need this story verified. It sounds like bullshit.

... Like nothing Moore would do, or get caught doing. He knows they're out there, and even if he wished to stiff some union members (which I doubt), ABC News with a "Bombshell Expose about the hypocritical Michael Moore!!!!" would be in the back of his mind.

This story stinks. Stinks too much to be believed.

[redqueen]

3. It is. He uses other unions... there's some issue with one of them.

Course, the OP and the first responder are true to form ... :rofl:

Here's the less-flamebaity OP about it. :)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=6683508

[saracat]

8. This has yet to be verified. Perhaps he may have had a problem with some individuals but

not an entire union.This sounds like anti-Mooreism!

[tjwash]

9. "obtained by ABCNews.com"

You can fucking stop reading it at that point.

[JDPriestly]

10. If he did not hire union members, he probably had a good reason.

It is also possible that he did not hire them but that someone or some organization that he hired hired them.

Further, whether he did anything wrong depends on the positions that were filled and where he was filming.

More details are needed on this.

I just saw the film, and I assure you that ABC and every hardcore capitalist organization in the country is going to do everything it can to dissuade people from seeing this film.

You have to see it. It was a tough film to make, very tough. I really liked it and was in tears at several points during it. Don't expect an academic dissertation on why capitalism is bad. I'm not even sure that was the message. It just tells why so many of us are disillusioned with capitalism. It is just an expression of dismay that capitalism has become so cold, so mean, so greedy.

I understand why Moore calls it a Love Story. Americans who believed in and trusted our system are rightfully dismayed at how a few at the very top have robbed the many at the very bottom. We were in love with our country and our economic system. We believed in opportunity for all. We believed in the American dream. This film is about how capitalism destroyed that dream, those opportunities.

You have to see it. But don't go with any expectation about what you are going to see other than that it is a love story -- about unrequited love from the point of view of the rejected lover.

[Ruby the Liberal]

12. +1

...every hardcore capitalist organization in the country is going to do everything it can to dissuade people from seeing this film

[Swamp Rat]

11. GEAUX MICHAEL MOORE!!!!

I'm going to see this movie with a group of union teachers, all of whom can't wait to see it.