Huh, the voice actor of a character I couldn't remember is no longer going to be able to work on STO for a complex barrage of reasons that prompted STO to only stop making union exceptions for established cast.
Sounds like unions have gone from protecting the weak/poor who have very few rights, to protecting the rich and powerful.
Completely ridiculous. In Europe this kind of behaviour would be struck down immediately (already been outlawed as someone has mentioned).
America is progressive in alot of ways, but this kind of backward thinking doesn't do much to encourage new talent.
That's not exactly true... unions do a lot of good for their people...
but it's generally for their people and only their people... they don't care about the worker... just the union worker...
But union workers are generally the best trained, and many of the most dedicated people in the work force.
It's just that the union leadership sometimes loses it's way and sees things in wierd ways that actually hurts even their own people... let alone other people just trying to get buy. This is one of those occasions.
Really the problem isn't unions... it's that they were able to buy themselves some politicians to work certain laws into place to put them into a favorable position over non-union workers in some states.
Uh, if joining the union was as bad a deal as you describe it, nobody would join or stay in them. He might just end up earning more by joining the union.
Now, the requirements part might be an issue, but in such a case, it might be worth asking if computer game voice work counts towards those requirements.
Just saying.
It's not BAD. But the actors Cryptic has been using since launch make their bread and butter doing things like commercials for car dealerships and cable access television. Their business model is taking cheaper rates and probably living somewhere like the suburbs of Portland.
SAG rates in this case will be based around San Francisco living.
Neither is bad. It's a different business model.
He could probably pay union dues without joining to stay locked in on STO but he'd need for that to cover his costs (is he making enough to cover that) and he'd probably have to record in California.
It's a business model difference for the actor.
Same goes for writers. Some writers want to make big money and live in L.A. There are gigs I would move there for. But if my prose and comics work took off...? I'd go full on the opposite direction and go to a more rural part of the U.S. or the developing world.
If you offered me six figures, fine. I'm all in for Los Angeles or San Fran. It can actually be tight on six figures in some of those areas but it's doable.
Meanwhile, if I'm getting gigs that pay $10k-$20k a year and which aren't location dependent? I'll take that check as a direct deposit and apply for a visa to the Czech Republic where I can live like a king on $10-20k USD. $100k (if I didn't have student loans) would actually allow me to retire in Prague tomorrow vs. spend one year in Los Angeles.
Different business model from the artist's perspective. I may look at it and say, "Sure. You're offering me $100k THIS YEAR. But it will be gone next year if you expect me to move to L.A. and I have a lease/kids in school/etc."
Cryptic may just look at it and say they'd rather have Rob Paulsen (who Gaius' actor is doing an impression of, if you ask me; Yacko Warner, classic Raphael on TMNT, current Donatello) come in and do Gaius.
It's tough to see folks go or shift jobs but this doesn't seem like Cryptic trying to be cheap with the product and it may mean it's more practical to have celebrities do cameos as some of these characters, to have Ron Perelman come in and do Obisek, for example.
Though I couldn't remember the character's name, I enjoyed the voice work of the guy. In fact, it was his voice as the only reason the character stuck in my mind. Of all the crews of all the Flagships, other than the Captains, this guy was the only other one I can picture. Shame.
*******************************************
A Romulan Strike Team, Missing Farmers and an ancient base on a Klingon Border world. But what connects them? Find out in my First Foundary mission: 'The Jeroan Farmer Escapade'
Sounds like unions have gone from protecting the weak/poor who have very few rights, to protecting the rich and powerful.
Completely ridiculous. In Europe this kind of behaviour would be struck down immediately (already been outlawed as someone has mentioned).
America is progressive in alot of ways, but this kind of backward thinking doesn't do much to encourage new talent.
I'm going to try to avoid taking partisan stances either way.
Unions represent large groups of people but as a negotiating block have to set policies around the bulk of their active membership. This usually means people who operate on a very cheap business model (and it may be non-exploitative) do get cut out of the process.
Most SAG members are not rich or powerful. Most SAG members in California live in parts of California where a six figure income is a poverty wage with kids and where a tiny hut costs half a million dollars --- and they set policies around protecting those members. The bulk of the people being protected are neither rich nor powerful. They are vulnerable. But they live in places where the local inflation is astronomical... and representing the interests of someone living hand-to-mouth in L.A. is difficult to balance against someone trying to get more work in a work light environment like Kansas City where your cost of living is less than half but the work is less plentiful.
I'd advise anybody who is curious about the extreme conditions of Hollywood check out "Confessions of a Superhero", which is about the costumed street performers who work the area around the Chinese theater. It's a heartbreaking example of where you wind up in Hollywood chasing a passion and, I think, is a strong example of why SAG bases its protections and negotiations around Los Angeles living. People are drawn their like magnets and would starve themselves by the tens or hundreds of thousands without protections based around Los Angeles living. Many still do.
Atlanta is a different market. That said, I've seen deaths/injuries that suggest maybe entertainment folks need some collective lobbying power in Atlanta although I think SAG really is optimized around the L.A. performer as well in a way where I think a different union or lobbying arrangement would be better for Atlanta.
It's easy to say things are stupid and exist for no reason. It's rarely true. Things like SAG existed and continue to exist for a reason even if there are business casualties and consequences of those decisions. And Cryptic is the one who made the call for a switch here and it seems to me like it was probably a switch made to secure some big talent for the games they produce. It's just a tradeoff. Everything is a tradeoff.
so how does that fare for borticus as Kurland, im sure hes not an official voice actor, or are they allowed to keep what has already been placed in the game ??
"kurland here", "this is kurland"
now why would you "want" to pull that out for? :P
i wouldnt be surprised if cryptic did however its been in the game for so long bothering nobody, why remove it?
T6 Miranda Hero Ship FTW. Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
But union workers are generally the best trained, and many of the most dedicated people in the work force.
B.S. The best trained and most dedicated manage to get promoted into management positions, which are, by default, not union. Even where this isn't true, in many fields, those who are best trained can't get a job without joining the union because, as demonstrated here, the industry they have trained for is a closed shop, and it is in the Unions' best interest to keep it that way.
It's just that the union leadership sometimes loses it's way and sees things in wierd ways that actually hurts even their own people... let alone other people just trying to get buy. This is one of those occasions.
Really the problem isn't unions... it's that they were able to buy themselves some politicians to work certain laws into place to put them into a favorable position over non-union workers in some states.
As a kid, I lived in a community that went through a really bad strike, so I can attest to the fact that the Union Leadership can make decisions that hurt their people. The main sticking point, it turns out, was that they wanted more pay (thus more dues) for the workers, but the shop on strike? The highest paid group of hourly employees in the entire state! There was no basis. It was the Union Bosses trying to beat on the company, truly. The biggest problem was that this mentality translated down to the pickets, and in a very violent way. There was all this publicity (put out by the Union) about how "Unions Are Good" and "Looking Out For The Worker" but all I saw was some people who suddenly were basically living in poverty and others who were suffering through vandalism, violence, even shootings. Much of the latter was seemingly random, sometimes not actually targeting someone who was involved at all; one kid I knew, who's dad had nothing to do with the mill, would have been killed had he been sitting up in bed when the bullet, fired from a gun held by a man screaming "SCABS!!!" as he drove by the house, passed through his wall. "The Road to the Mill" was regularly spiked to cause flat tires to all who passed over it. The problem is, the "Road to the Mill" was also the road to a lot of homes and businesses, including my house. Dad got to be pretty handy with a tire plug set by the end of it all... It was total madness.
End result: the Union was broken, and I'm pretty sure I am not the only one from that community who, if ever faced with the choice of joining a union or not having a job will run as fast as they can in the opposite direction. I also can give no support to politicians who support them. I may be somewhat liberal in much of my thinking, but I don't vote that way, mainly because I still remember Jesse Jackson coming to town and telling everyone that "The Unions and the Democrats are the only ones who care about You People." Pfft... first off, I'd think he'd be more sensative about lumping a group together into "You People"...
In my mind, Unions=Mobs. Not in the "Godfather" sense, either. At least they have some respect and business sense. More of a lynch mob...
Anyways, I really wanted to say: When I played through the DR content, I seem to remember thinking "Why, again, am I, a Starfleet Admiral, taking orders from this Romulan whatever-rank-he-is-that-is-below-mine?" The only reason I don't hate the guy as much as Tovan Khev is he is at least kinda funny as he gives orders, where Tovan is just kinda whiny...
"Logic is a little tweeting bird chirping in a meadow. Logic is a wreath of pretty flowers which smell BAD." - Spock
B.S. The best trained and most dedicated manage to get promoted into management positions, which are, by default, not union. Even where this isn't true, in many fields, those who are best trained can't get a job without joining the union because, as demonstrated here, the industry they have trained for is a closed shop, and it is in the Unions' best interest to keep it that way.
Well, that's a refreshingly naive and simplistic misunderstanding of the world we live in. Have you ever heard the phrase "too good to be promoted?" It's sort of the opposite of the Peter Principle. Wait, have you ever heard of the Peter Principle? It's this idea that you should promote based on demonstrated ability to do the job you're being promoted into, not based on excellence in your current position.
Anyway, in short, life is not an RPG, being promoted to management is basically getting hired for an entirely different position where your employer has to weigh what they know about your ability to manage against both the uncertainty of a new hire and the cost of losing you in your current position. You don't get promoted to management for being the "best trained" and "most dedicated" transmission rebuilder.
So Unions in California have the full backing of the state pretty much to demand a non-union worker become unemployed if they hire even one union member.
Assuming the above is true...
This is just one of the many things wrong with unions in the states. It's shocking behaviour to demand a non-union member be sacked. In most modern democracies this behaviour is outlawed.
If you've come to the forums to complain about the AFK system, it's known to be bugged at the moment.
This is just one of the many things wrong with unions in the states. It's shocking behaviour to demand a non-union member be sacked. In most modern democracies this behaviour is outlawed.
I have to agree. Our unions, except for THE most high-risk occupations where loss of life and health is the biggest danger, are basically parasites. Now Cryptic is forced to choose between stopping VO work which will damage their product, and paying rates that may damage an already obviously struggling company to make the product. And now you have an actor out of work who may never be able to do so unless he can crack the union's artificial barrier to entry OR maybe move to somewhere like Nashville that is not located in a Right-to-be-Unemployed state, and hope the rules are different enough there and that jobs for his particular type of work are available. I don't know much about voice acting, but at least with other industries in right to work states it is more likely a business can avoid acquiring the parasite in the first place.
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Ever heard the phrase "training your replacement"? Where a company decides to cut costs by "promoting" senior experienced employees to "management" positions and having them train new entry level employees at their old jobs and once those new hires are trained the newly promoted senior employees are laid off/down sized. And if that promotion took them out of a union it's... Awww too bad, so sad. Employment office is that way.
Heh, yeah, I've heard of that too, and without talking about cases where I might have thought that kind of thing was justified, I will easily say that such dishonest ploys indicate dysfunction somewhere. Whether it be greed on the part of management, an intractable union, desperation brought on by poor economic conditions, or that established employee banging the CEO's wife or accidentally killing his dog.
I was trying to address this linear view of the employment world with a simple explanation that, even when employers are acting honestly, management involves a different skill set that usually only requires competence at, but not mastery of, the task you are managing. Plus, even when employers are acting honestly, a promotion is a calculation where your current value has to actually be counted against your potential value in your new position. If the best guy on the assembly line can't pass those skills on to his team as a manager, either because they're the result of some sort of natural talent or because he's just incapable of communicating with those around him, you will actually lose productivity by promoting him over his less capable colleague.
Some Unions give you cool stuff like "tenure" where you can't be fired.
Cool for you...bad for the company if you suck.
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Some Unions give you cool stuff like "tenure" where you can't be fired.
Sure you can, it's just not as easy, but believe me, the Principal at the school that I work at, in California BTW, got rid of 3 tenured teachers last year.
As to unions:
No unions = child labor, unlivable wages, unsafe working conditions, lower life expectancy of workers, etc.
Too strong unions = Inflation, higher cost of product, shenanigans like in the OP, etc.
To the OP, that sucks, but a decision like that would come from corporate.
Also, anything used before this decision is still ok to use so Kurland would stay. Besides, the only thing that would change is a different voice saying "kurland here."
RMY, to your point, unions had a purpose prior to the existence of OSHA and other safety-regulating government agencies, and I do still accept their existence for the highest-risk occupations, such as coal mining, where even a tiny slip-up on safety can kill, maim, or permanently ruin an employee's health for the rest of their short lives. I am OK with miners having some extra leverage, since it's literally a matter of life or death. But for the majority of occupations, I think the regulatory structure is now in place to address problems without that. Why union when you can call OSHA and they will smack your employer for any actual violations?
Same now about child labor: we now have strict federal and state regulations. Yes, unions helped get those. But social sensibilities are now such that this law would not be repealed if all the unions disappeared tomorrow.
Living wages...whole other can of worms given that they end up shrinking the job market drastically AND raising consumer costs, which triggers a spiral in which what constitutes a living wage rises again to meet the new costs, and fewer and fewer people can now afford to maintain themselves because more are out of work and costs are increasing out of control. The benevolent spirit behind it is admirable but the best tool you can give someone is top-notch education either at college OR (unfairly maligned and de-emphasized) in the skilled trades. I would rather, instead of instituting living wage laws, go on an all-out attack on everything that drags the education system down, particularly in disadvantaged areas. Put a book in a kid's hands now, teach them math (and IMO also add mandatory personal finance courses to graduate), help them with an internship or apprenticeship while still in school so they graduate with experience and a marketable trade, and you are putting money in their hands later. They will still have to perform adequately to maintain a job but it won't be due to inexcusable gaps and disparities in education anymore.
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No unions = child labor, unlivable wages, unsafe working conditions, lower life expectancy of workers, etc.
Yep, why over here in the UK (where Thatcher neutered the unions back in the 80s), I see hundreds of children pass by my house, presumably off to their hideously dangerous jobs in textile mills to work a sixteen hour day for a penny a week.
...oh wait no, they're going to school, whilst their parents work for a legally mandated minimum wage or above, in a place of work that reaches minimum safety standards set by the Health and Safety Executive, for a number of hours that are legally limited by the European Union in order to ensure a decent quality of life. Because despite the lack of union bullying, the law still protects UK workers, ALL of them... unlike a union.
"Help control the unemployment population--get your union spayed or neutered!"
Sorry, the comment about neutering the unions brought that to mind. (Not sure you had The Price Is Right across the pond, though?)
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This happened awhile back like a year ago or soish. If he still wants to work and do those voice overs he can join this union still. However like most of these things there is a cost to put your name in the hat for future work.
So... When can I pencil in SIR PATRICK STEWART for VO work ?????
(Yes I know he'd break PWEs budget...)
We can Dream cant we ?
No really though, I know Stewart is out of the question, based on salary alone...
But there's a lot of Trek actors I'd like to see in game. *that would not command such a high salary as Stewart*
Really not sure why Tom Paris hasn't appeared with DR...
Actually, it would've been nice to see all the main cast from Voyager imo.
(Probably way too costly to assemble them all I guess, but would have been a nice touch)
And hey, they can still add Torres and Paris to a mission, possibly. Definatly would like to see those two at least.
Basically California is a right to work state... pretty much in simple terms once you use one union employee.... you have to use them all or the other workers are forced to join the union. The excuse is so that the Unions can collective bargin for all their employees.
The real reason is that the Unions and the Democrats go hand in hand... and what the Union wants the Union gets... and union leadership gets more dues from union actors.
So Unions in California have the full backing of the state pretty much to demand a non-union worker become unemployed if they hire even one union member.
In this case its the SAG... who pretty much is demand this. Hire only SAG voice workers... with the "generous" exception of non-union already establish Star Trek Actors... or face our wrath.
All in all if Cryptic wanted to use any SAG voice actor... they had no choice really.
Edit: and yes... union workers are NEVER cheaper then non-union workers... no matter the field... and hell I am union.
Except that's exactly the opposite of what "right to work" means. What you've described is a "closed shop" where all workers are required to join the union, which then bargains their contract. "Right to work" means that employees can't be forced to join the union, though interestingly court cases almost uniformly require that they continue to receive the benefit of any union negotiated contract. I would also note that California is NOT a right to work state.
As it pertains to this particular character, people seem to have forgotten one thing...Gaius is Cryptic's character and they can have which ever actor they hire voice him. If they choose they can hire a union actor to voice the character and I'm betting most people won't be able to tell the difference.
Yep, why over here in the UK (where Thatcher neutered the unions back in the 80s), I see hundreds of children pass by my house, presumably off to their hideously dangerous jobs in textile mills to work a sixteen hour day for a penny a week.
...oh wait no, they're going to school, whilst their parents work for a legally mandated minimum wage or above, in a place of work that reaches minimum safety standards set by the Health and Safety Executive, for a number of hours that are legally limited by the European Union in order to ensure a decent quality of life. Because despite the lack of union bullying, the law still protects UK workers, ALL of them... unlike a union.
way to take my comment out of context man...
Unions back in the day ended child labor by getting politicians to change the laws...
I also wrote bad things that happen when unions are too strong.
I never understand people that live in absolutes, such that unions are either good or bad, people are either liberal or conservative, etc.
Comments
Neat.
Jimmy Hoffa's son, James P. Hoffa, has been president of the Teamsters union since 1999.
Let that sink in for a moment.
Actually this is Union bull****... the corporate has really no say in this matter inside California.
Completely ridiculous. In Europe this kind of behaviour would be struck down immediately (already been outlawed as someone has mentioned).
America is progressive in alot of ways, but this kind of backward thinking doesn't do much to encourage new talent.
That's not exactly true... unions do a lot of good for their people...
but it's generally for their people and only their people... they don't care about the worker... just the union worker...
But union workers are generally the best trained, and many of the most dedicated people in the work force.
It's just that the union leadership sometimes loses it's way and sees things in wierd ways that actually hurts even their own people... let alone other people just trying to get buy. This is one of those occasions.
Really the problem isn't unions... it's that they were able to buy themselves some politicians to work certain laws into place to put them into a favorable position over non-union workers in some states.
It's not BAD. But the actors Cryptic has been using since launch make their bread and butter doing things like commercials for car dealerships and cable access television. Their business model is taking cheaper rates and probably living somewhere like the suburbs of Portland.
SAG rates in this case will be based around San Francisco living.
Neither is bad. It's a different business model.
He could probably pay union dues without joining to stay locked in on STO but he'd need for that to cover his costs (is he making enough to cover that) and he'd probably have to record in California.
It's a business model difference for the actor.
Same goes for writers. Some writers want to make big money and live in L.A. There are gigs I would move there for. But if my prose and comics work took off...? I'd go full on the opposite direction and go to a more rural part of the U.S. or the developing world.
If you offered me six figures, fine. I'm all in for Los Angeles or San Fran. It can actually be tight on six figures in some of those areas but it's doable.
Meanwhile, if I'm getting gigs that pay $10k-$20k a year and which aren't location dependent? I'll take that check as a direct deposit and apply for a visa to the Czech Republic where I can live like a king on $10-20k USD. $100k (if I didn't have student loans) would actually allow me to retire in Prague tomorrow vs. spend one year in Los Angeles.
Different business model from the artist's perspective. I may look at it and say, "Sure. You're offering me $100k THIS YEAR. But it will be gone next year if you expect me to move to L.A. and I have a lease/kids in school/etc."
Cryptic may just look at it and say they'd rather have Rob Paulsen (who Gaius' actor is doing an impression of, if you ask me; Yacko Warner, classic Raphael on TMNT, current Donatello) come in and do Gaius.
It's tough to see folks go or shift jobs but this doesn't seem like Cryptic trying to be cheap with the product and it may mean it's more practical to have celebrities do cameos as some of these characters, to have Ron Perelman come in and do Obisek, for example.
A Romulan Strike Team, Missing Farmers and an ancient base on a Klingon Border world. But what connects them? Find out in my First Foundary mission: 'The Jeroan Farmer Escapade'
I'm going to try to avoid taking partisan stances either way.
Unions represent large groups of people but as a negotiating block have to set policies around the bulk of their active membership. This usually means people who operate on a very cheap business model (and it may be non-exploitative) do get cut out of the process.
Most SAG members are not rich or powerful. Most SAG members in California live in parts of California where a six figure income is a poverty wage with kids and where a tiny hut costs half a million dollars --- and they set policies around protecting those members. The bulk of the people being protected are neither rich nor powerful. They are vulnerable. But they live in places where the local inflation is astronomical... and representing the interests of someone living hand-to-mouth in L.A. is difficult to balance against someone trying to get more work in a work light environment like Kansas City where your cost of living is less than half but the work is less plentiful.
I'd advise anybody who is curious about the extreme conditions of Hollywood check out "Confessions of a Superhero", which is about the costumed street performers who work the area around the Chinese theater. It's a heartbreaking example of where you wind up in Hollywood chasing a passion and, I think, is a strong example of why SAG bases its protections and negotiations around Los Angeles living. People are drawn their like magnets and would starve themselves by the tens or hundreds of thousands without protections based around Los Angeles living. Many still do.
Atlanta is a different market. That said, I've seen deaths/injuries that suggest maybe entertainment folks need some collective lobbying power in Atlanta although I think SAG really is optimized around the L.A. performer as well in a way where I think a different union or lobbying arrangement would be better for Atlanta.
It's easy to say things are stupid and exist for no reason. It's rarely true. Things like SAG existed and continue to exist for a reason even if there are business casualties and consequences of those decisions. And Cryptic is the one who made the call for a switch here and it seems to me like it was probably a switch made to secure some big talent for the games they produce. It's just a tradeoff. Everything is a tradeoff.
"kurland here", "this is kurland"
now why would you "want" to pull that out for? :P
i wouldnt be surprised if cryptic did however its been in the game for so long bothering nobody, why remove it?
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
End result: the Union was broken, and I'm pretty sure I am not the only one from that community who, if ever faced with the choice of joining a union or not having a job will run as fast as they can in the opposite direction. I also can give no support to politicians who support them. I may be somewhat liberal in much of my thinking, but I don't vote that way, mainly because I still remember Jesse Jackson coming to town and telling everyone that "The Unions and the Democrats are the only ones who care about You People." Pfft... first off, I'd think he'd be more sensative about lumping a group together into "You People"...
In my mind, Unions=Mobs. Not in the "Godfather" sense, either. At least they have some respect and business sense. More of a lynch mob...
Anyways, I really wanted to say: When I played through the DR content, I seem to remember thinking "Why, again, am I, a Starfleet Admiral, taking orders from this Romulan whatever-rank-he-is-that-is-below-mine?" The only reason I don't hate the guy as much as Tovan Khev is he is at least kinda funny as he gives orders, where Tovan is just kinda whiny...
Well, that's a refreshingly naive and simplistic misunderstanding of the world we live in. Have you ever heard the phrase "too good to be promoted?" It's sort of the opposite of the Peter Principle. Wait, have you ever heard of the Peter Principle? It's this idea that you should promote based on demonstrated ability to do the job you're being promoted into, not based on excellence in your current position.
Anyway, in short, life is not an RPG, being promoted to management is basically getting hired for an entirely different position where your employer has to weigh what they know about your ability to manage against both the uncertainty of a new hire and the cost of losing you in your current position. You don't get promoted to management for being the "best trained" and "most dedicated" transmission rebuilder.
Assuming the above is true...
This is just one of the many things wrong with unions in the states. It's shocking behaviour to demand a non-union member be sacked. In most modern democracies this behaviour is outlawed.
I have to agree. Our unions, except for THE most high-risk occupations where loss of life and health is the biggest danger, are basically parasites. Now Cryptic is forced to choose between stopping VO work which will damage their product, and paying rates that may damage an already obviously struggling company to make the product. And now you have an actor out of work who may never be able to do so unless he can crack the union's artificial barrier to entry OR maybe move to somewhere like Nashville that is not located in a Right-to-be-Unemployed state, and hope the rules are different enough there and that jobs for his particular type of work are available. I don't know much about voice acting, but at least with other industries in right to work states it is more likely a business can avoid acquiring the parasite in the first place.
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Heh, yeah, I've heard of that too, and without talking about cases where I might have thought that kind of thing was justified, I will easily say that such dishonest ploys indicate dysfunction somewhere. Whether it be greed on the part of management, an intractable union, desperation brought on by poor economic conditions, or that established employee banging the CEO's wife or accidentally killing his dog.
I was trying to address this linear view of the employment world with a simple explanation that, even when employers are acting honestly, management involves a different skill set that usually only requires competence at, but not mastery of, the task you are managing. Plus, even when employers are acting honestly, a promotion is a calculation where your current value has to actually be counted against your potential value in your new position. If the best guy on the assembly line can't pass those skills on to his team as a manager, either because they're the result of some sort of natural talent or because he's just incapable of communicating with those around him, you will actually lose productivity by promoting him over his less capable colleague.
Cool for you...bad for the company if you suck.
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Sure you can, it's just not as easy, but believe me, the Principal at the school that I work at, in California BTW, got rid of 3 tenured teachers last year.
As to unions:
No unions = child labor, unlivable wages, unsafe working conditions, lower life expectancy of workers, etc.
Too strong unions = Inflation, higher cost of product, shenanigans like in the OP, etc.
To the OP, that sucks, but a decision like that would come from corporate.
Also, anything used before this decision is still ok to use so Kurland would stay. Besides, the only thing that would change is a different voice saying "kurland here."
Same now about child labor: we now have strict federal and state regulations. Yes, unions helped get those. But social sensibilities are now such that this law would not be repealed if all the unions disappeared tomorrow.
Living wages...whole other can of worms given that they end up shrinking the job market drastically AND raising consumer costs, which triggers a spiral in which what constitutes a living wage rises again to meet the new costs, and fewer and fewer people can now afford to maintain themselves because more are out of work and costs are increasing out of control. The benevolent spirit behind it is admirable but the best tool you can give someone is top-notch education either at college OR (unfairly maligned and de-emphasized) in the skilled trades. I would rather, instead of instituting living wage laws, go on an all-out attack on everything that drags the education system down, particularly in disadvantaged areas. Put a book in a kid's hands now, teach them math (and IMO also add mandatory personal finance courses to graduate), help them with an internship or apprenticeship while still in school so they graduate with experience and a marketable trade, and you are putting money in their hands later. They will still have to perform adequately to maintain a job but it won't be due to inexcusable gaps and disparities in education anymore.
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Yep, why over here in the UK (where Thatcher neutered the unions back in the 80s), I see hundreds of children pass by my house, presumably off to their hideously dangerous jobs in textile mills to work a sixteen hour day for a penny a week.
...oh wait no, they're going to school, whilst their parents work for a legally mandated minimum wage or above, in a place of work that reaches minimum safety standards set by the Health and Safety Executive, for a number of hours that are legally limited by the European Union in order to ensure a decent quality of life. Because despite the lack of union bullying, the law still protects UK workers, ALL of them... unlike a union.
Sorry, the comment about neutering the unions brought that to mind.
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(Yes I know he'd break PWEs budget...)
We can Dream cant we ?
No really though, I know Stewart is out of the question, based on salary alone...
But there's a lot of Trek actors I'd like to see in game. *that would not command such a high salary as Stewart*
Really not sure why Tom Paris hasn't appeared with DR...
Actually, it would've been nice to see all the main cast from Voyager imo.
(Probably way too costly to assemble them all I guess, but would have been a nice touch)
And hey, they can still add Torres and Paris to a mission, possibly. Definatly would like to see those two at least.
As it pertains to this particular character, people seem to have forgotten one thing...Gaius is Cryptic's character and they can have which ever actor they hire voice him. If they choose they can hire a union actor to voice the character and I'm betting most people won't be able to tell the difference.
way to take my comment out of context man...
Unions back in the day ended child labor by getting politicians to change the laws...
I also wrote bad things that happen when unions are too strong.
I never understand people that live in absolutes, such that unions are either good or bad, people are either liberal or conservative, etc.