Collective Bargaining online comment

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/25/business/good-sitcom-is-rare-and-actors-know-it.html comment on this news: why the collective bargaining is so successful. 3 pages. the cast of “Friends” collective bargained with Warner Brothers to demand equal salaries (some were being paid more than others), and they continued to stick together in renegotiations and received the same pay for the entirety of the show. When they started to ask for too much money, the network threatened to stop airing the show. Here’s the interesting part (it represents a lot of our class material): "No group has negotiated more effectively than the 'Friends' stars, who have stuck together as six equals in each renegotiation. Mr. Ancier, who was running NBC Entertainment when the first 'Friends' salary crisis hit, said, 'At some point we were drawing a line in the sand.' It was May 2001 and the cast was unsigned, just four days before NBC would have to announce a new fall schedule to advertisers in New York. Mr. Ancier said the network had offered each star $700,000 an episode … The 'Friends' cast turned the offer down. 'They wanted $1,050,000 million an episode,' Mr. Ancier said. NBC would not budge and tried to find some way to convince the cast members and their representatives that it was not bluffing. Mr. Ancier said he arranged for an on-air promotion that would label the next week's episode, the last one scheduled for that season, as the series finale. 'It said, 'See how it all ends, this week on 'Friends,' ' Mr. Ancier said. He showed the promotion to some of the cast's agents, saying it would go on the air starting at noon the next day. NBC also put together an alternate schedule it could present to the advertisers in the upfront session, set for a few days away, and made sure the 'Friends' cast learned of it. 'It spooked the cast so much, we got calls that they were ready to negotiate,' he said. The deal closed just before the upfront announcement. 'Once you're really willing to walk away, people react,' Mr. Ancier said.”