Reel Chicago - At the intersection of Chicago Advertising, Entertainment, Media and Production: The strike vote may happen as early as October 3 which will impact the many shows currently in production in Chicago. The key points of concern are the health and safety of crew, and appropriate wages to compensate work provided. This includes what is still referred to as “New Media” streaming projects that have grown to rival major blockbuster film production.
4 comments:
I commented on this last week too and I really think that what this strike is fighting for are such integral and almost intuitive things that it surprises me that a strike has to take place for these things to be put in place. Things such as safety and health of the crew and competitive wages in such an inflationary time only make sense, especially in the last year where we have seen how the theater industry has struggled to provide security for its employees that one would think that this has already been handled with and that the industry had its 18- month time to rectify these things. But sadly, that has not been the case so it does seem like a strike might be the only thing that the union can employ in order to get attention to their grievances and try to change their working conditions for the better.
The grievances listed from IATSE members are long-running issues, and it’s good to see the members making big waves and taking a firm stance on these issues. The timing of this impending strike is no surprise; when productions were shut down in 2020, many of us had to find new temporary jobs, or were unemployed for many months. Having more free time or having a more “normal” job with more predictable hours, pay, etc highlighted the problems with the film & TV industry once IATSE members were able to go back to their jobs as technicians, and were faced with unlivable wages and ridiculously long and late hours. I hope they are successful and achieve their goal of a more humane and respectful working environment; making entertainment should not come at the cost of their happiness and personal lives, and they deserve to be paid fairly as technicians for the work they do.
I am thrilled IATSE is planning a strike and advocating for the betterment of their industry. It is bizarre that many of these requests have not yet been met by IATSE, in my opinion. The issues same like basic human rights including safer and less excessive working hours and appropriate breaks. However, given the climate of the industry, it makes more sense. With Covid, people are more desperate to get back to work. Many IATSE Members are in a desperate situation. This means some may be more likely to take low paying jobs or jobs with few breaks and long working hours. I wonder if just returning to the industry will result in a lower strike turn out. Will everyone be passionate enough in regard to the issue on the table to want to leave their jobs or go on strike? I believe the AMPTP may be taking advantage of this.
I wonder why technical people in theatre have been working under these conditions for so long. I mean, I understand how hard it must be to have things changed as the show must go on, and tech people aren’t exactly the most visible. I wonder if it has to do with people in a sense loving what they do. I’ve never met a person who went into theatre because it was an available job. Everyone I’ve met went into it because they loved theatre or the arts. I wonder if that adds to why the conditions have been like this for so long. I agree with Olivia and Sophia and wonder how effective these strikes will be, as it would appear that these large companies can go on for a while without responding to the requests of IATSE. I also wonder what impact it has on the companies when someone gets injured and sued, which must happen more frequently due to long days with little to know breaks.
Post a Comment