Posts tagged Hollywood
Commentary: The existential threat AI poses to the Screen Actors Guild
December 30, 2023 // Work is already drying up for those lower-end actors for other reasons. The move to streaming series has resulted in TV series having shorter seasons. SAG, in short, is likely to start losing members as work for extras and bit part players simply dries up and people drop out of the profession. On the flipside, this will mean Hollywood will have need of even more computer nerds – animation specialists, motion capture technicians, computer color and lighting specialists and so on. So, Hollywood will be employing more people in other areas. Given the technical skill levels required these may be better-paying jobs than the acting ones. But they almost certainly won’t be actors’ union members.
Unions made 2023 the year of the strike. What will happen next?
December 28, 2023 // Potential workplace disputes dot next year’s calendar, even if few approach the size of the high-profile confrontations of 2023. Contracts covering 60,000 film and television crew workers are set to expire in July; while an agreement concerning 220,000 postal workers will come up for renewal in September 2024, according to an analysis from the pro-worker outlet Labor Notes.
Commentary: The Hollywood Strikes Stopped AI From Taking Your Job. But for How Long?
December 28, 2023 // The “learn to code” crowd has all new ammo. Even Biden’s executive order was clear about the fact that the US government wanted to attract the best and brightest in the field. But that’s job creation, not job displacement. New technologies create jobs all the time, but with AI, some of those jobs pay pennies. What’s more, AI can also ask you to train it to do your job before picking up your tools. Going forward, the likelihood that AI will displace many entry-level jobs while creating a few highly skilled gigs seems high. The biggest questions in AI right now nearly all revolve around what these machines are learning from people, whether it’s human skill or human bias.
Labor organizers hope to maintain support after summer of strikes
December 13, 2023 // Labor organizers have since been trying to appeal to workers by tapping into frustrations about those inequities and taking action. Here in Ohio, Former State Sen. Nina Turner has established a nonprofit called We Are Somebody just to help those efforts nationwide. “We Are Somebody is a capacity building organization for the working class,” Turner said. “Our goal is to organize, amplify and fund workers on the front line, and that could be workers that are officially in a labor union, but also workers that are not in labor unions.”
Why strikes are working and which industries could be next
November 14, 2023 // A similar story could play out for other workers who endured hardships during the pandemic — and whose industries are still struggling to fill open positions, including teachers, childcare professionals, and food service workers. "From meatpacking plants to grocery stores and coffee shops, workers are realizing more than ever, not just how essential they are, but the strength that comes from standing together to improve their working conditions," Dave Young, International Vice President for the United Food and Commercial Workers union, told Insider.
From Hollywood to auto work, organized labor is flexing its muscles. Where do unions stand today?
November 9, 2023 // There are also limits for organizers under current labor law. That means that what worked in auto workers' labor campaign, for example, may not look the same or be possible in other industries. Larger, more established unions typically have more bargaining power — and that's reflected in new contract wins seen today. “We have a labor law that was designed in the era in the 30s and 40s, when auto plants of 10,000 workers (were organizing)," he said. Starbucks is “split into these small coffee shops of 15 workers. ... They need to join together to have any kind of bargaining power against a big employer. But our labor law isn’t structured to help them do that,” Colvin said. Service jobs can also be hard to organize due to part-time work and high turnover rates. The same can be said for Amazon warehouses, where there have been pushes for unions.
The Actors Strike Is Over, Ending Hollywood’s Long Limbo
November 9, 2023 //
Hollywood actors strike: SAG-AFTRA says studios’ latest offer ‘isn’t enough’
November 8, 2023 //
Thousands of Las Vegas Strip hotel workers at 18 casinos could go on strike
November 7, 2023 // In Las Vegas, the 18 properties that could be impacted by a strike are Aria, Bellagio, Excalibur, Luxor, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, New York-New York, Park MGM, Caesars Palace, Flamingo, Harrah’s, Horseshoe, Paris Las Vegas, Planet Hollywood, The Cromwell, The Linq, and Wynn and Encore Resorts. The union’s deadline comes after yet another unsuccessful round of negotiations with the three casino companies. A spokesperson for Wynn Resorts declined to comment. Caesars and MGM Resorts did not respond to emailed requests for comment.