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Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers Intl Union President Boyd Young Urges Viacom/CBS Executives to Stop Production of The Real Beverly Hillbillies

Contact: Leeann Anderson
PACE Executive Assistant to the President
(o) 615/834-8590

Nashville, Tenn., May 16, 2003 - Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy (PACE) Workers International President Boyd Young recently sent a letter to the executives of Viacom and CBS urging them to stop production of the proposed reality-based television show The Real Beverly Hillbillies. In his letter, President Young cited serious concerns over the exploitation of persons living in the south and the need to focus on issues affecting worker-class families in the rural south.

The show, as proposed, moves a poor, rural family into a Hollywood mansion. The anticipated “culture shock” is predicted to be great entertainment, along the line of other reality-based programming.

“PACE has been in the forefront of efforts to address issues affecting workers in this country, including the health care crisis, justice and living wages for unorganized workers, and trade and economic issues that add to the manufacturing crisis in America,” said Young. “What CBS/Viacom proposes in this type of program will further accentuate the desperate condition of some Americans, particularly those who have had the unfortunate circumstance of limited opportunities for education and employment.”

Young suggested a mobilization of membership at PACE, particularly in the states targeted by the executives, and told them of union members’ concerns. “This program will undoubtedly continue the image of the people from rural America as barefoot and ignorant, which is farthest from the truth,” he wrote. “PACE represents workers in your target states--over 30,000 PACE members live and work in Arkansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia. In the State of Arkansas alone, nearly 1 in 4 unionized workers belongs to PACE, where the state economic director also has joined in the protest of your show. Most of our members in these states live in rural communities where the mill or facility is the cornerstone of the economy in their community.

“Rural Appalachians and Americans in general have high moral standards and are hardworking. I am proud to lead a union whose members also have high moral standards and a work ethic. This is much more than I can of say of your corporation and its affiliates,” wrote Young.

PACE International Union represents over 320,000 workers in the paper, oil, chemical, automotive parts, atomic energy, industrial minerals, grain processing and cement industries.