On the Scene: The Viacom Permalancer Walk-Out

At this very moment, hundreds of long-term Viacom freelancers are gathered outside the MTV studios, protesting the company's back-door attempt to reduce or rescind many of their benefits, just in time for the holidays.

I don't know how many employees in all are affected by the changes, but turnout for the rally seemed pretty good. Managers were "very supportive" of the protest, one freelancer told me. "The word of the day is, 'Do what you gotta do.'"

"Shame on Viacom" was a popular placard, as was "Why, Viacom?" Also ubiquitous was the "WTF?" sign designed to mimic the MTV logo. I asked my freelancer friend who was responsible for that brilliant bit of agitprop -- whoever it is definitely deserves a job with 401k matching -- but he didn't know. "We all showed up in the morning and it was on everybody's desk," he said.

Chants included "I want my benefits," sung to the tune of the Dire Straits lyric "I want my MTV," and the succinct "No pills, no Hills."

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Photo credit: Daniel Arnold