[HN Gopher] Strike Date Set for 60k Film and Television Workers ___________________________________________________________________ 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. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2021-10-13 23:00 UTC)