While the name,United Adult Workers of America surely sounds like a union, I am not sure that is the goal of this new organization. I will give them a little more time to fully explain their goals, and the manner in which they intend to achieve those goals.

But if Black wants to be the head of this new oganization he has to clean up his act a bit. He has alot of baggage himself, but that does not mean he cannot rehabilitate himself and do some good. He does not deny his past, but he needs to rise above the regular industry bullshit and act like a leader. Having katie Summers sticking her ass in the camera on his show yesterday looked like the same old industry bullshit, and nobody is going to take him seriously if he continues with this kind of behavior.

I wish him the best of luck, and hope he is successful. Time will tell.

BT: No argument here. Those are exactly the reasons I’m pessimistic. It isn’t like this is the first time organizing adult industry workers has been talked about… but then, of course, reality sets in. Some of those realities being things you’ve mentioned.

My point is that there are two reasons for a union.

One is to provide benefits, like health care and pensions. Health care is really expensive. It takes a lot of dues to cover the cost. It works in the WGA and other guilds because you have stars who make huge sums and huge contributions to subsidize the lesser ranks. No one in porn makes that kind of money for performing on film. And, given the relatively low rate on fees for a scene, people would have to work a lot – and do it year in and year out – to maintain their benefits.

The other reason for a union is to get a guaranteed rate. I’ve never worked in porn, but from everything I read, porn talent can be a bit flakey? I guarantee you that a gal who hasn’t had a scene in awhile will work for less than scale if some sleaze offers her the work. Once that happens, the reason for having a union no longer works.

So that leaves a safer work place. Since the biggest names in porn are saying they are anti-condom, are willing to do double anal and get electrocuted by Kink.com, what exactly is the rally cry? Mandatory handi-wipes? I suppose they could require producers to cover the cost of testing.

I just can’t imagine unionizing an industry where the performers pride themselves on being outlaws who do anything they want, with no restrictions.

I’ve been a WGA member since the 80s, albeit I’m an “inactive” member (and have been for quite a while) which means I don’t pay dues. In all that time, I made much more money (as a writer) working non-union writing gigs than the few union gigs I managed to snag. In order to write for non-union producers, however, I had to write under a pseudonym… which a shitload of WGA writers do on a regular basis. Unions have their benefits and their drawbacks.

Escorting is a perfectly legal profession. Prostitution is not.

Conversely, in order to become a member, you have to already have work. As a new television writer, I could only get work when a.) I had an assignment from a production company that had been approved by one of the networks and b.) another screenwriter was willing to be my co-author and guarantee my work even though that screenwriter did no actual writing. That writer got a portion of my pay as a result.

The unions are able to provide the level of benefits they provide members – and believe me, the benefits are wonderful – because the performer makes a significant mandatory contribution from their pay and the producer also makes a larger significant mandatory contribution.

Just because you’re a member and getting work doesn’t mean you get benefits. You only qualify to participate in the benefit program if you are earning a minimum amount of money during a defined period of time. Qualification varies by union. If you fall short, or don’t work during the next defined period of time, you lose your benefits.

Last, it works because you have members who make huge amounts of money subsidizing the participating members who make very little money. I was a television writer in the 90’s making $50,000 a script for television movies of the week. Between me and the production company, we were contributing $15,000 a script. Depending on how it was paid out, that was enough money to qualify for benefits – but it didn’t cover the cost of providing those benefits. The big time film writers making a million a script subsidized guys like me who made just enough to qualify.

Last, you had tons of writers who got a job or two, and contributed dues but didn’t make enough on a consistent basis to qualify for benefits. Example, I was a member for a decade but only made enough for health insurance during three of those years. I never made enough on a consistent basis to vest in the pension program. As a result, my beneficiaries will get a small life insurance policy when I pass, but no pension benefit even though I was a working dues-paying member for years in the Guild.

Now, think of the transient nature of the porn industry. You’re going to have to sign up all of these young chicks as they come off the bus. You’re going to have to enforce against renegade producers with one camera, lights and a girlfriend willing to screw on film. And, if its going to remain financially solvent, you’re going to be collecting dues from a ton of people who will derive no benefit from the union in the way of health insurance or retirement.

If it works like the other unions used to work – I haven’t paid dues for about ten years so am out of the loop today – you’re going to add 25% to a producer’s talent costs. In the screenwriter’s guild, you become an employee of the production company during the period you work on a project, so they’re paying 7.625% of your self-employment tax and they’re contributing 18% towards your pension/health insurance.

If production costs for talent are going to go up by 25%, are producers going to negotiate minimum fees that are 25% lower than they currently pay? If a blowjob is currently $800, will the minimum blowjob fee be $600.

And given that back in my day, you had to make a minimum of about $35,000 to participate in the health insurance plan, will some actress be willing to give 60 blowjobs in order to qualify for health insurance?

Last thought, you can’t unionize escorts – that’s an illegal activity. That’s like unionizing street corner drug dealers or bookies.

This will only work if you get 100% participation from talent right out of the gate. If some talent says, yeah, I want to be part of a union and other talent says, nah, not interested, it’ll never work. Last real world example – in addition to working as a television writer, I worked for 30 years as a magazine writer. I’ve written for every major publishing company in New York. Back in the 90’s, there was a push to create a magazine writers guild that would mimic the screenwriters guild. It never went anywhere because magazine writers are like porn actors. You have a handful of people like me who make a living at it. But, most do it to supplement other income. They don’t want to pay dues because they were never going to make enough to derive a benefit. Meanwhile, the publishers refused to negotiate on minimum rates.

The American adult industry is one of the last forms of infamia in this society. Once performers are in, many do sex work for a long period time–they just switch locations…