Strike Fever: A Post-Script

The other day, my students were very curious about my reaction to the transport strike. They asked about the frequency of such a strike in the US. I told them it happens…well, at least I’ve heard of it happening. I’ve never seen one in my lifetime. While they were tickled by my response, it made me reflect on how lucky I’ve been to not have to endure such a major inconvenience in the States.

And while American union members aren’t usually as trigger-happy as the French, France isn’t the only country cashing in on strike fever. In a striking (heh, couldn’t help it) parallel, Hollywood and Broadway are currently engaged in union battles of their own. (And my sympathy lies with the creatives, if it means no new eppies of Lost or BSG this winter.) While the French are finding it impossibly difficult to get to work, Americans could face an entire winter (and spring) of no new installments of TV shows or performances of musicals. They may have to find better things to do with their time than sit around channel-surfing or spending close to $100 on theater tickets on their holiday trips to the Big Apple. Something tells me this would be more difficult for our entertainment-obsessed culture to bear than one week of lousy transportation services, dense traffic, and pervasive moping (as has been the case here). Maybe Americans will be more active, read more, and spend more time with loved ones…Nah, it’s probably all a conspiracy to get more people into movie theaters to counter increasingly waning box office sales (in favor of DVDs).