Union Framing of Conflict-Related Issues in the Entertainment Industry

This study examined the conflict framing of union leaders as they reacted to changes in the entertainment industry. The analysis revealed how participants named conflict-based issues and attributed blame for them; cast them as whole stories; or reframed them. Overall, leaders of two types of unions [employees classified as above-the-line (ATL) and workers categorizes as below-the-line (BTL)] differed in their naming and blaming of controversial issues. For ATL employees, blame rested mostly on identifiable groups (e.g., employers, other unions) while for BTL leaders, blame centered on unfair legal, economic, and technological systems. Overall, this study suggested that naming and blaming of conflict-based issues operated differently for the two types of unions. Leaders who employed naming singled out critical agenda items and often used reframing, while union leaders who depicted issues as whole stories resisted reframing the issues linked to an ongoing conflict.