Actor’s Union Joins Writers on the Strike Against Hollywood
This July, the Hollywood actors union has decided to join the writers on strike, in an effort to shut down Hollywood until their demands are met. The actors union is SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists). It is known to support about 160,000 professional laborers in the media field worldwide. The actors union has joined the Writers Guild of America on strike as they both feel the conditions they work within are unfair or unjust and believe that the corporation must fairly pay them for the labor value they produce. But, to understand the demands of the strikers, you must first understand the conditions in which the actors reside.
Although when you think of actors, you may just think of the richest and most famous actors like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson or Tom Cruise, these are the slim minority of actors. The median pay for an actor in 2022 was $18/hour, but in many states, actors are paid far greater about $20-60/hour. This may be true, but it is disingenuous as it does not take into account that being an actor is not full-time, the work is very sparse and many actors must hold multiple jobs at once to make a livable wage. To place this in perspective, over 87% of SAG-AFTRA members make less than $26,000 a year from their work as actors. This $26,000 figure is extremely important as it is the number an individual must earn in order to be eligible for healthcare coverage from the union. This means that over 87% of the actors’ union workers do not earn enough money to have healthcare coverage and must pay out of pocket for all expenses.
Furthermore, the strike is also against the introduction of AI and the corporations' use of it. The union is fighting against the corporations that wish to use AI to scan background actors, simply to create replicas of them to place them in the background of the film or production. This is dangerous as it could lead to actors being paid to be scanned for one day’s work, then no longer being needed and only being paid a minimal wage for the use of their digital replica. This is a slippery slope as it sets a precedent that these background replicas can be used on any film, eliminating the need for any background actors, and allowing corporations to cut their costs along with the jobs of thousands of actors.
These two main points of controversy, AI and wages, were addressed in the actor's demands. The union simply called for an 11% raise to salaries this year, with an 8% raise over the next two years to take into account the raising inflations over the last two years. They also called for the protection of performers’ rights with the use of digital replicas, meaning that the actors must give permission and be paid fairly for the use of their AI replicas to be used in any film. As you can see these requests were not outlandish, but due to the corporation’s greed, they declined the request and it forced the workers to strike to protect their worker’s rights.
This union strike has been very successful at the moment drawing lots of support from famous mainstream actors. This has also set a good precedent for the power of the working people when they band together to get their fair share of the profits. An example of this is the UPS union’s incredibly successful negotiations which came to a contract agreement with UPS where over 300,000 workers voted to ratify the contract. This was a huge success winning UPS employees better working conditions and better-paid wages. As workers come together to ensure that they receive the value that they produce, this is an important stride to stopping corporations from exploiting people. Although some of your favorite movies or TV shows may be delayed, it is important to remember that these movies and shows would be impossible to create without the hardworking actors and writers who are in dire need of better wages and conditions than the greedy movie studios are willing to provide.
