Some 100 unionists — including a large contingent of Hudson Valley-based NYSUT members — hit the picket line in Poughkeepsie recently in a show of support for striking writers in Hollywood and New York City.

The gathering outside the historic Bardavon opera house brought together stagehands, commuter-rail and sheet-metal workers, communications technicians and some 50 schoolteachers from various NYSUT locals who joined in solidarity with members of the Writers Guild of America, East.

• UPDATE: Writers reach tentative deal with producers. Feb.9, 2008. AFL-CIO.

"Writers tend to work in isolation, and it was great to feel part of a larger community," said television writer and WGAE member Nina Shengold.

"Every writer owes a special debt of gratitude to teachers, and it was great to march side by side with so many," Shengold said.

Some 10,500 Guild members walked off the job Nov. 5, effectively bringing television drama and sitcom production to a halt. Key issues in the impasse between the union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers include DVD residuals and fair compensation for new media content.

As New York Teacher was going to press, there was some optimism an agreement was near.

"The fact that so many teachers put labor action and writers on their calendar and stood with us in that weather was downright A-plus, heroic behavior," said Casey Kurtti, a WGA member who coordinated the picketing.