Interesting... I did not know that!
Posted on 11/30/2007 8:11:18 PM PST by Red Badger
Today was the last day for most of the 120 staffers on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," who left with an early Christmas bonus check and no guarantee of a job when the strike ended.
"Do we have a job when the strike ends? That's what everyone keeps asking," one former staffer said. "They've guaranteed no one a job. They just keep saying, 'The letter explains it."
That letter is a notice from NBC's human resources department that says, "If your services are needed, we will contact you."
Sources said that while some higher-level executives received severance packages, other staffers received only Leno's traditional bonus of $100 times the number of years the staffer has been on the show. Writers were not included in the bonuses, but one writer emphasized that "he's not being Scrooge. He just wanted to get the staff taken care of first. I can't emphasize enough how generous Jay is."
Others were less forgiving.
"We haven't heard from him since the second or third day of the strike," the former staffer said. "He called on speakerphone while we were in our daily meeting and said, 'Don't look for other jobs , no one's going to lose their house, we'll get though this.' Two weeks ago, we got the heads up that we had two more weeks (of pay) and that's it. Everyone wondered, 'Is Jay going to come through?' And nothing happened. Conan makes less and he said, 'I'm going to pay for my people.' "
Still on the payroll are the exec producers and a skeleton crew to answer phones. Leno was not on hand for the layoffs. Instead, Leno's assistant notified the staff yesterday that they would get their Christmas bonus early. Leno's bonuses usually go out the week before Christmas.
"People are devastated today because we thought that he meant something more than an early Christmas bonus," another said. "A lot of people didn't look for other work, based on Jay's assurances."
“Look for, the Union Labe....”
Lino didn’t call the strike.
Are you posting in the right forum? I don't think most people here are sympathetic to union strikers -- especially those who constantly bash and denigrate conservatives as the Leno writers do every single night. They should all be fired a la Reagan's firing of PATCO. Good riddance to them all.
These aren’t strikers.........
...but he didn’t exactly resist it either. He’s been picketing with the rest of the writers.
At least Carson had the cajones to go without writers back in ‘88 while the last strike went on.
Wahhhhhhh we want to go on strike and get paid too. Wahhhhh..what do you mean we wont get paid? but but we are on strike ..we deserve it.
Ohhhhhhh pahleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Hardly a night goes by now that he does not have a joke or two with the "Bush is stupid" theme.
These are the staff- not the writers
then the staff can “write” thank you notes to the strikers, if that isnt against the striking rules.
A staff of 120? Almost as many staffers as cars for Jay.
These are the non-striking staff. They’ve been laid off while Leno and the writers strike.
see 10
Typical democrat … neither for nor against, just going with the flow. He will blame his stance (or lack thereof) on his producers.
Jay could sell one of his cars and pay them.
Not that he should, or would.
Jay Leno is one of the good guys in Hollywood, but that seems pretty cheesy for a multi million dollar earning show.
Interesting... I did not know that!
Hi, guys!
http://weblogs.variety.com/wga_strike_blog/2007/11/tonight-show-la.html
Just in case you hadn’t seen this, check out the anti-union comments. Does a heart good.
Will the strikers be eleigible for unemployment or food stamps?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.