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Life & Times Transcript
10/13/05 Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times -- Labor unions are trying to rally opposition to measures on the November ballot and they're finding some unexpected support. Sharon Ford>> What has happened is people are tired. They are tired with where politics is going and the fact that we don't seem to have a voice anymore. So all of a sudden, it's like a revolt. Val Zavala>> And then, there's no doubt that an outbreak of avian flu would be deadly. Is Southern California especially vulnerable? It's all straight ahead on tonight's Life and Times. Announcer>> Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Val Zavala>> Governor Schwarzenegger has taken on a fight that even Hollywood's special effects can't help him win. He has taken on organized labor, police, firefighters, teachers and thousands of government workers. The initiatives that Schwarzenegger supports would rein in the power of unions and, as Toni Guinyard tells us, they've responded with a full court press. [Film Clip] Toni Guinyard>> The protests that seemed to spring out of nowhere started months ago. Wherever Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger went, members of public employees unions followed, their anger stoked by the Governor's call for a special election allowing the public to vote on several ballot initiatives that would transform the way organized labor unions do business. While union leaders try to focus attention on the political battle, the effort is somewhat overshadowed by internal dissention within the AFL-CIO, and its local arm, the Los Angeles County Labor Federation, is struggling to maintain its footing after the sudden death of leader, Miguel Contreras. Martin Ludlow took over after Contreras' death. Martin Ludlow>> Anyone who thinks we're going to be weaker is going to be sadly disappointed. Sherry Bebitch Jeffe>> Ludlow does come out of the labor union. He has been a member of the city council, but he's not Miguel Contreras. >> "Can we count on your vote for no?" Toni Guinyard>> Despite the distractions, volunteers are working the phone banks trying to get voters to vote no on ballot measures that are part of the Governor's reform plans, including the initiatives that will directly impact labor unions and their members. >> "Now use this information in number one." Toni Guinyard>> Proposition 74 would increase the probationary period for public school teachers from two to five years. Proposition 75 would prohibit the use of public employee union dues for political contributions without first getting individual consent. Proposition 76 would limit state spending and school funding. >> "If you have just a split second, can I ask you about those three individually?" Sharon Ford>> What has happened is people are tired. They are tired with where politics is going and the fact that we don't seem to have a voice anymore. So all of a sudden, it's like a revolt. Toni Guinyard>> Sharon Ford is a former union member and now a campaign volunteer working at one of more than a dozen phone banks set up statewide by the Alliance for a Better California. It's a coalition made up not only of union members, but also people with no ties to organized labor. Susanne Savage>> I used to be an executive in the music business. I was the vice president of recording for Arista Records in New York City. Toni Guinyard>> Susanne Savage is area director for the Alliance's San Fernando Valley headquarters. Susanne Savage>> "So we're going to have a meeting at seven p.m. with a lot of the local Democratic leaders, community organizations." We have Republicans working with Democrats. We have high-paying service like IATSE or AFTRA members, people who traditionally make a comfortable living working with janitors and health care workers who make just above minimum wage. We have grass roots people working with labor people, so it's really an amazing mixture. Sherry Bebitch Jeffe>> In terms of mobilizing get-out-the-vote, it is better that labor has put itself under one umbrella, under the decision-making of one or a couple of people rather than having each union spin its own wheels. Toni Guinyard>> Political analyst, Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, calls the formation of the Alliance good political strategy, but says she hasn't seen proof of mobilization by the unions yet. What she has seen are the campaign ads. Advertisement>> "You said you'd make sure our schools got the money they need. Another broken promise." Sherry Bebitch Jeffe>> Those are scene-slick campaigns, but we've never seen so expensive a slick campaign as we have seen. Estimates are that this campaign, pro and con, all of the initiatives, may well reach anywhere from three hundred million dollars to five hundred million dollars. Martin Ludlow>> This is an outright assault on how workers organized and how they have a voice, so we're pulling everything out. It's the most expensive effort we've ever launched. I don't know what the final price tag is going to be that the workers are bearing to beat these attacks, but it's in the tens of millions and it's coming from worker after worker after worker who are putting up their own money into their employee representative group saying help us protect ourselves. Toni Guinyard>> Ludlow admits that convincing the public that union members need protecting is turning out to be a hard sell. Martin Ludlow>> It's one of the toughest fights we have. In fact, the polling numbers we have show very, very negative impressions of unions. What we do is, we've got to fight back. We need to remind people where the eight hour workday came from, where the forty hour workweek came from. We need to remind people who it was that fought for a minimum wage in this country. Toni Guinyard>> In the weeks leading up to the special election, it's likely that every household in the state of California will be swamped with arguments for and against each and every one of the initiatives on the ballot. Union leadership says it must do two things. First get non-union voters to listen to what they have to say, then get union members to buy into the message. Martin Ludlow>> We have to keep talking, keep explaining and recognizing that union members are human beings. They got a lot of things going on in their lives. Lord knows, they're working, they've got families, they've got challenges, crises, all kinds of things. Somehow we have to break through all of that sort of static and explain to them that something detrimental to your livelihood is coming down the pike. Toni Guinyard>> Jim Prunty isn't buying it. Prunty is a state employee, an agricultural pest control supervisor for the Department of Food and Agriculture. He's also a union member. Jim Prunty>> I am represented by the California State Employees Association. I am in the supervisorial division of CSEA after spending fourteen years in the rank and file division, which is SEIU 1000. Toni Guinyard>> Prunty volunteered to work promoting Proposition 75, the very initiative union leadership is campaigning against. Jim Prunty>> Some say, gee, it sounds like a big power grab from the governor and other people are saying, you know, for years I haven't been entirely comfortable with the position the union has taken. Toni Guinyard>> Is that where you stand? Jim Prunty>> That is where I stand. You betcha. Toni Guinyard>> Prunty says he wants his union to focus on issues relating to wages, workplace safety and retirement rather than spending money advocating for mostly Democratic candidates and political issues he does not support. Jim Prunty>> Not that the unions shouldn't advocate, but that the union leaders should make sure that it's in harmony with the members before it engages in this advocacy. Toni Guinyard>> But these are less than harmonious times for the labor movement. Martin Ludlow>> My vision is short-term right now. It is to win on all of these initiatives. It is to keep this labor movement in Los Angeles County unified through this storm. Toni Guinyard>> A political storm that he hopes will galvanize union members and mark the beginning of a new era in the local labor movement. I'm Toni Guinyard for Life and Times. Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org and click on "Life and Times". Val Zavala>> Avian flu has plenty of people scared. Prescriptions for antiviral drugs are up seven hundred percent compared to last year, and yet they're not particularly effective against avian flu. So where do we stand? Hena Cuevas talked with Dr. Jonathan Fielding, Los Angeles County's Director of Public Health, about the chance of avian flu showing up here. Hena Cuevas>> We've heard it referred to as avian flu and also bird flu. Is it the same thing? And what is it? Dr. Jonathan Fielding>> What we're talking about is a flu that has affected primarily chickens and waterfowl predominantly in Asia, although now perhaps in Romania and Turkey. The concern is, could this turn into a human virus that's easily transmitted from person to person and, if so, what's the likelihood that that in fact could become a worldwide problem? We call that a pandemic, an epidemic that goes over the whole world. At this point, we don't have immunity to that type of flu, so that's why we're so concerned. The shots we've had in the past for other kinds of flu aren't going to help us with this kind. Right now, there have only been about a hundred seventeen people that have gotten it and almost all of them have been in very close contact with chickens that have been affected as dead or dying chickens. Fewer than five cases have been transmitted from person to person. Hena Cuevas>> Five cases of the flu being transmitted from other human beings doesn't sound like anything very serious, so why is the medical community so concerned? Dr. Jonathan Fielding>> We're concerned because there is the possibility this could mutate into a form that could easily be transmitted person to person. We're not sure it would. There are a lot of similarities between how this flu looks genetically and the flu that caused the 1918 epidemic that swept the world. But we're not sure how long it would take, whether it will go in that direction or not. We have to plan as if it will. The problem is, none of us have any immunity to that and thus far it's had a relatively high mortality rate. Hena Cuevas>> So this is basically a race against time, man versus the virus? Dr. Jonathan Fielding>> We don't know if it's a race against time. We have to act as if it's a race against time and with an important sense of urgency, but we're not sure that this is going to become a pandemic, that it's going to become a worldwide problem or what level of severity. We have to assume it will and, because we have to assume it will, we don't know when this might happen. Hena Cuevas>> How prepared is Los Angeles County? Dr. Jonathan Fielding>> We've been working on an avian flu plan for over a year. We have a plan. We continue to update it. We're going to have drills. This is not a Los Angeles County problem alone. There are limited ways to deal with this flu and the problems really are national and international. If we have a nationwide problem, we don't have enough antiviral medication and if -- these are a lot of ifs -- if it's a very serious disease, we're going to be disadvantaged as will a lot of other parts of the country. Hena Cuevas>> Considering California is the point of entry for a lot of people coming in from Asia, how much of a priority is this in the state? Dr. Jonathan Fielding>> We certainly are a major point of ingress from people coming from other places. Not only people immigrate, there's a lot of business and pleasure travel between Asia and California and other parts of the country where Los Angeles is the first point of debarkation. We're working very closely with the quarantine group, the Center for Disease Control quarantine group, at LAX. They control all the airports in this area. We are looking for any potential cases of this type of flu. We've worked with all the hospitals. They've been notified to let us know immediately if there is anybody who's recently traveled that has a pattern of disease consistent with this kind of flu. On the other hand, if this becomes a widely spread problem in Asia or other parts of the world, it's not easy to stop it at the borders because people can transmit this influenza before they get sick, at least the day before. It has a very short incubation period, so it's readily easily spread. So stopping it at the borders is a pretty tough job. Hena Cuevas>> How concerned are you that we are just about ready to start with the flu season? That people are going to start sniffling, sneezing, feeling bad and they're going to think that that's what it is and they're going to run to the hospital? Dr. Jonathan Fielding>> Well, what's important to know is that we've had no cases of this type of flu in the United States. That is not currently the issue. The issue currently is planning for that possibility and focusing on what we should do today, which is having everybody at high risk get immunized for the strains of flu which may be circulating this winter. That's very important. It's no different than any other year and those recommendations are still the same for those at high risk. So they really should get immunized and it's a good idea for anybody to get vaccinated against the kinds of flu that we expect to have. The other thing we don't focus enough on is respiratory hygiene. We don't wash our hands enough, we don't wash them well enough. We have to cover our cough, cover our sneeze and not go to work or send our kids to school if they have a respiratory problem so they don't share that problem with the rest of the class or the rest of their office mates. Hena Cuevas>> So the advice is basically the same one it's been for the regular flu. Wash your hands, cover your mouth when you sneeze. Dr. Jonathan Fielding>> The respiratory hygiene advice is exactly the same. We want to stop the spread of pathogens and, whether it's flu virus or any other kinds of virus which are more common in the winter, those kind of very simple straightforward, common sense, your-mom-told-you techniques are effective. Hena Cuevas>> So in a way, it is a challenge to send out the message, but at the same time not create panic. Dr. Jonathan Fielding>> That's absolutely right. We want to send out the message that it's important for those who are entrusted with public health protection to be really focused on that. It is a priority for us and is a serious concern. On the other hand, right now there's no reason that this should be top-of-mind issue for the residents of Los Angeles County or of California in general or in any other part of the country. At this point, there is not a virus that is causing a lot of person to person transmission. What's important for people to do is to kind of separate what we're doing as a public health agency in working with all the key partners and what they need to do as individuals, which is focus right now on this year's flu and try to minimize the effects of that if you're high-risk and, even not, getting an influenza vaccine and also using good respiratory etiquette. Hena Cuevas>> Dr. Jonathan Fielding, thank you very much. That was very helpful information. Dr. Jonathan Fielding>> My pleasure. Glad to be able to help. Announcer>> To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us by mail at this address: Life and Times 4401 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, California 90027 You can also call our viewer comment line (323) 953-5555) or contact us the fast way by e-mail at kcet.org. Larry Mantle>> Welcome to FilmWeek on Life and Times. I'm Larry Mantle of 89.3 KPCC. Our first film is written and directed by Cameron Crowe. "Elizabethtown" stars Kirsten Dunst and Orlando Bloom. [Film Clip] Larry Mantle>> I'm joined this week by critics Lael Loewenstein of Variety and Henry Sheehan of henrysheehan.com. Lael, what did you think of "Elizabethtown"? Lael Loewenstein>> Well, as a Cameron Crowe fan, I was profoundly disappointed. This movie is just a jumble and a mess. It's a story of a young man played by Orlando Bloom who is depressed and suicidal about a work situation and his plans for suicide go awry when he discovers that his father has suddenly died, so he has to go to Elizabethtown, Kentucky and retrieve his dad. Along the way, he meets Kirsten Dunst, the flight attendant who is very quirky and tries to get him back in touch with himself. There's so much going on in this movie that you just don't know what to make of it. It's supposedly kind of a comic fable, but it's more like a circus with just too many sideshows. The tone is uneven. This is a movie that reminded me thematically a little bit of "Garden State", but that turned out much better the themes of kind of laugh and comedy that this movie deals with also. Larry Mantle>> Henry, what did you think? Henry Sheehan>> Yeah, I think this is a bad movie. I mean, it's badly made. It's badly constructed. As Lael says, it's a circus with too many sideshows. One thing that stuck out for me is the characters in Elizabethtown, Kentucky are just, you know, one-dimensional caricatures of border state type people. You know, you get the feeling that Crowe thinks, well, he's making a very affectionate portrait of middle America, but really he's just condescending to them. You know, if you're trying to be kind to these people, you're not really doing them justice. I mean, we all have our dark sides and, to pretend that people don't have it, is to not give them their full-blooded reality. You know, you look at a movie like "About Schmidt" and you see, even though the director is very pointed and very satirical at times, you get the feeling that these are real people and you don't look down at them like the way I think Crowe does of the people of Elizabethtown. Larry Mantle>> Next up is Atom Egoyan's new film, "Where the Truth Lies". It stars Kevin Bacon, Colin Firth and Alison Lohman. [Film Clip] Larry Mantle>> Henry, what did you think of "Where the Truth Lies"? Henry Sheehan>> Well, this is just another bad movie. It's just bad. It's directed by Atom Egoyan and the film itself has the shape of a mystery or a mystery thriller about a comedy team that's obviously based on Martin & Lewis played by Colin Firth who's kind of the straight man and Kevin Bacon who is a very poor choice as a crazy funny man. He just doesn't have that insanity that, say, Jerry Lewis has, even though he tries to play it, and you can't play it. You either have it or you don't and he doesn't. But anyway, at the height of their fame when they were doing a telethon in the 1950's, they were involved it seems peripherally with the death of a maid at a hotel. The movie is seen from the point of view of Alison Lohman, reporter. Obviously, they're caught being Citizen Kane with the flashbacks and different people telling different stories and different versions of events. That part doesn't work, but what the worst part is is Adam Egoyan going on in sex and death again to very little return. Larry Mantle>> Do you agree with that, Lael? Lael Loewenstein>> You know, I actually liked Kevin Bacon much better than Henry did. I thought he was quite good and he's such an under-rated actor. I thought he came off very well in this, as did Colin Firth. The real problem for me was Alison Lohman who I thought didn't have any of the gravitas needed for this part. She has such a blank face throughout most of the film. There's nothing going on under the surface of it and you need a character since this is the character that you're supposedly identifying with who is really well acted. So she was a real problem for me. I did like the movie as a mystery story. I thought it worked less well as a sort of investigation or rumination on the truth and death and the responsibility of the media and all the things that it's purportedly about. I thought it was a pretty engrossing mystery because I wanted to know what happened and it kept my interest, but for me, the acting was uneven and that was a problem. Larry Mantle>> Our theme of writer-director films continues with one from Noah Baumbach. It was a real favorite at the Sundance Film Festival. "The Squid and the Whale" stars Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney. [Film Clip] Larry Mantle>> Well, Henry, tell us about "The Squid and the Whale". Henry Sheehan>> Well, this was directed by Noah Baumbach and I think he actually made this movie instead of going into analysis because this is a huge revenge movie on his father. Baumbach is in his thirties now. This is set in 1986 and is about a sixteen year old -- so do the math -- whose parents are getting a divorce, but everything is the fault of the father. I mean, he's a terrible bore. I mean, the worst kind of -- Larry Mantle>> -- is he the squid or the whale (laughter)? Henry Sheehan>> (Laughter) He's the whale, I think. He is just the worst kind of bore. I mean, everybody is stupid, no one comes up to par for him. The movie says that everything wrong with the sixteen year old comes from where he's tried to imitate his father and his only hope is to get out from under his father's shadow. But it's such a one-dimensional portrait and it's so vicious against the father. It just really comes across as just a revenge movie. It might as well be Sylvester Stallone playing the sixteen year old. Larry Mantle>> And finally this week, we have the ensemble film, "Nine Lives", from writer-director Rodrigo Garcia. [Film Clip] Larry Mantle>> Lael, what did you think of "Nine Lives"? Lael Loewenstein>> There were parts of this movie that I really liked. Rodrigo Garcia did a movie that I'd seen several years ago called "Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her", which is very similar in structure to this. He takes snippets of women's lives, so what you get as a viewer is just ten to fourteen minutes in the lives of each of these female characters. What he does that's interesting here is he uses a single take, a single master shot with a steady cam basically where he's following each of these actresses around the room or the location, whatever it is. Some of these scenes are more successful than others. In particular, there's a wonderful bit with Robin Wright Penn and Jason Isaacs. They play former lovers who meet in a supermarket and she's moved on in her life. There's a great scene with Holly Hunter as the girlfriend of someone who reveals an indiscreet thing about her past. There are all kinds of little moments like this. Some of them are uneven. What's frustrating for the viewer is that you want the stories to intertwine and they do a bit. Garcia tempts you and taunts you with this, but he never quite gives you enough to hold on to. Larry Mantle>> Well, thank you again for joining us for another FilmWeek on Life and Times. I'm Larry Mantle of 89.3 KPCC for our critics, Lael Loewenstein of Variety and Henry Sheehan of henrysheehan.com, inviting you to join us next week for our next FilmWeek on Life and Times. Val Zavala>> And you can hear a full hour of FilmWeek Friday mornings at eleven a.m. on KPCC radio. And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time. Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Announcer>> We would like to take a moment to note the passing of James Kennedy. Jim was a respected documentary filmmaker and the co-creator and original executive producer of Life and Times. He died at his home in Palo Alto of cancer at the age of sixty-five. Jim was passionate about improving his community, his world and the craft of broadcast journalism. He was a smart, kind and curious person and he will be deeply missed. Sponsored in part by:  | |
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