[HN Gopher] Strike Date Set for 60k Film and Television Workers
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Strike Date Set for 60k Film and Television Workers
Author : asdff
Score : 48 points
Date : 2021-10-13 19:17 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (iatse.net)
(TXT) w3m dump (iatse.net)
| peterlk wrote:
| I've just spent a bit over a year in the live entertainment
| industry, and feel like I might be able to provide some insight
| here. On the one hand, this feels like an own-goal because no one
| in live entertainment has been paid since the beginning of 2020.
| Though that started to change a little over this summer.
|
| On the other hand, many of the people from the live entertainment
| industry found refuge in film and television. There has been a
| hollowing out of the industry where the senior folks have stuck
| around, but lots and lots of people who were early in their
| career have left and are not coming back. The senior folks can
| afford a few more weeks of no pay. However, if they cut off
| revenue to the film&tv world, they are setting up a 1-2 punch to
| the entertainment companies (1. COVID, 2. strike), and that puts
| them in a good negotiating position.
| djbusby wrote:
| Wow, 90% voted, 98% in favor of strike. Solidarity!
| agperson wrote:
| I read the headline as "strike data set" and was really
| interested to see what industry data IASTE was releasing to help
| justify the strike to the public and build support. Alas.
| calcifer wrote:
| This is set to be even bigger than the 2007 WGA strike, which was
| ~12k people for 100 days. WGA had some precedent-setting wins
| with that, hopefully the same will happen with IATSE.
| thrill wrote:
| Yeah, a lot of television shows really suffered due to it.
| tehjoker wrote:
| The WGA strike was really significant world historically. My
| recollection is that that strike created the impetus to do more
| reality television, which in turn created The Apprentice, which
| in turn gave us the 2016 election. America is a completely TV
| addled nation lmao
|
| At the time, the only thing I noticed was one of my favorite
| actresses from House MD participated in the strike and that the
| quality of the writing declined shortly after it started.
|
| That said, I completely support the strike! The workers need it
| badly and the stronger the strikes, the more control the
| workers will have. The more control they have, the less of a
| disaster America will be and leave less room for those kinds of
| consequences! My only criticism of the earlier strike is that
| it wasn't strong enough to include Reality TV in its coalition.
|
| EDIT: Welp, I was wrong! Sorry about that.
| CrazedGeek wrote:
| The Apprentice actually started in 2004: https://en.wikipedia
| .org/wiki/The_Apprentice_(American_TV_se...
| itsdrewmiller wrote:
| The Apprentice started in 2004, 3 years before the WGA
| strike.
| tehjoker wrote:
| I never watched it, sorry I got the timeline wrong. I
| thought it was popular after the strike.
|
| That was one of my favorite alt-history theories. Sad.
| slownews45 wrote:
| I'm not super pro-union (plenty of mess there) but there really
| are some reasonable asks union side.
|
| My guess, folks have been NOT working the 12+ hour days, have NOT
| been doing the "rolling lunches" and other wild hollywood stuff
| (that a construction worker would think was crazy) during COVID.
| Might have opened their eyes to life outside of the hollywood
| dream machine.
|
| Maybe look for things as basic as:
|
| Mandated stop production 30 minute lunches. Mandated 10 hour
| turnarounds seem totally reasonable And bottom line, new media
| isn't new media anymore, it's big business so sorting that out
| also makes sense
|
| I've never fully understood why hollywood can't always take a
| standard 30 minute lunch break. The job site across the street,
| lunch time, everyone puts down their stuff and eats and relaxes.
| And end of day, they are gone (unless it's a rush and paying
| overtime). (note this is my list - union's position may be
| different etc).
| TheDudeMan wrote:
| Aren't there already laws that grant breaks during work? Does
| Hollywood not abide by those? Who polices that sort of thing?
| (Also not very pro-union.)
| petee wrote:
| Yes, but alot of the time there is the underlying risk you'll
| never get hired again if you fight it. There are also
| penalties if you invade lunch, but they are so low some shows
| will just shell out money to skip lunch. Its literal penny
| pinching
|
| Often someone will still bring them food while they are
| working; its definitely not a real break
| breadzeppelin__ wrote:
| Not related to hollywood but I worked wildland fire for the
| local sheriff for a couple years and the 'mandated lunch
| breaks' were pretty much bullshit. MAYBE 15 minutes to stop
| and eat (often not even sitting down), then get back to work
| but had to report at least a half hour of unpaid downtime on
| the shift report at the end of the day. No wonder that area
| expertise is also hemorrhaging skilled workers. Luckily it
| was only part time for me but those guys are really getting
| fucked over between low pay and the ridiculous breaks
| m0zg wrote:
| Probably worst time in recent history to stage such a strike. I
| can't even _see_ the "stage workers" except through fogged up
| glasses while wearing a face diaper. This would be a lot more
| effective if their corporate overlords were making a ton of money
| like before.
| nafix wrote:
| Seems like a great time to stage a strike if the corporate
| overlords are already under some level of duress. Also, what
| does being able to see the stage workers have anything to do
| with it?
| m0zg wrote:
| They could just be laid off under the present circumstances.
| If a tree falls in a forest and there's no one there to hear
| it, does it make a sound?
| junon wrote:
| That would be suicide. Something like 90% of the workforce
| agreed on the strike. Imagine firing 60k people and having
| only a few thousand left. You'd sink immediately.
| petee wrote:
| And backed by the Directors Guild, Actors Guild, Writers,
| and Teamsters, all of which would respect the picket line
| thebigman433 wrote:
| If nobody can see people live, as you say, then surely the
| people making online streaming content are even more
| valuable right now.
|
| One of the reasons this is all happening is because workers
| have continually been abused around streaming content.
| Studios are making more and more money while workers get
| shafted with ever worsening hours and pay. Studios are
| abusing definitions of work surrounding streaming
| shows/movies to drastically abuse hour and pay laws.
| petee wrote:
| Every job in film is highly specialized, even down to
| construction. These are trades that are taught and passed
| down through years of on the job experience. It would take
| them years to replace every department.
|
| We do it well, fast, and safe.
| margalabargala wrote:
| Doubtful. There's a notorious shortage of workers in every
| industry right now, the striking workers will be
| particularly hard to replace due to their timing, and their
| strike is probably going to be particularly effective
| because of that.
| KingMachiavelli wrote:
| Is there a list of demands compared to the current agreement? I
| can't find the specifics anywhere.
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