Overtime Repeal

I find it alarming (and saddening) to see the quote from Gov. Pete Wilson regarding the repeal of extra pay for overtime above eight hours per day (April 12).

Wilson calls the repeal “a victory for all Californians.” Without laws to stop them, film and TV studios (among L.A.’s largest employers) can now work split film crews on two or three 13- to 18-hour days, then lay them off and hire a new crew for the rest of the week, thereby avoiding any overtime pay for these employees.

An eight-hour workday in the movie business is almost unheard of to begin with--you go to work when they start filming and leave when it’s done.

Studios will love this repeal: finally a chance to override all those pesky, hard-won union contracts that have, all these years, ensured fair compensation of workers for the film industry’s “killer hours.”

M.A. FEINBLATT

North Hollywood