This seems stupid.
They want to send boxes and boxes of pencils to some “media moguls”… why?
To try and “force” the media companies to “bargain in good faith” (I assume that roughly translates to “bend over”).
This, to me, is a private disagreement between labour and the companies they work for… NBC is not a crown corporation; if they do something stupid I’ll punish them like I punish any other company I find unethical… take my business elsewhere. Ethics hardly seem to come into play here, though - this isn’t a giant company with sweatshops that employs children and whips them if they don’t work hard enough, this is a group of unionized workers and some strong companies. I think both sides have the other by the balls; there’s no clear victim here.
I donno; maybe I don’t care enough about TV, or maybe I just don’t get it - a private group of companies is in a dispute with a group of unionized workers over largely financial issues is not something that I think deserves big, flashy, shows of support and public outcry. If having no new TV shows for next year isn’t hurting Fox, sending a billion pencils won’t do anything either. Likewise, if the writers don’t feel like picketing anymore, then it’s time to call it a day and get back to work.
This is a negotiation between two sides that BOTH want something - I have trouble seeing either side as angelic. If either side really, truly wanted this to end for “the good of the fans” or some other nebulous concept, here’s what you do - you GIVE IN and everyone gets back to work. That goes for studio execs AND writers.