The screenwriters, who help make our favourite shows, are on strike, and they need our solidarity
All the content that we see on television, streaming and film nowadays are made by the people who help contribute to them — the screenwriters. A majority of them are members of the trade union, the Writers Guild of America (WGA), which has announced that they will go on strike as of Tuesday (May 2). They’re doing it because a compromise between them and production companies, particularly on better wages and contracts, failed to be made. In an era of streaming overtaking live TV and AI being a thing (controversially), this is unprecedented, but sets an importance as I will detail further here.
A number of TV shows are being delayed by the first writers’ strike staged by the WGA since over 15 years ago, and late nightly programming such as the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, the Daily Show and Late Night with Seth Meyers have been replaced by repeats, whilst weekly shows like Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and Saturday Night Live, have been pulled from schedules. However though, Fallon and Meyers both announced that they would pay writers for their respective shows for the first three weeks of the industrial action, whilst NBC — the broadcaster which airs the shows — intended to pay two weeks of salary to their writers.
The last time that TV writers walked out of their jobs and onto the picket lines was in 2007 all the way through to 2008, where the action lasted for 100 days. That is also how long it took for unions and production companies to reach an agreement on better pay and working conditions. The longest ever strike staged by the WGA was in 1988. Also proof that if you stand up to injustice in your workforce, your employers will be more likely to listen to you and take action to help put it all to a resolve.
The writers’ strike is very important, and let me tell you why. You watch a lot of content on television, right? The shows, films, comedy specials, drama series, news even? These couldn’t be done without the writers, who often overcoming challenging and personal circumstances, and it is also one of the main reasons why they are walking out on picket lines. They have even written about the strike actions happening in the US, including workers for the Jeff Bezos-owned corporation Amazon taking action. Writing about strikes, and then taking part in strikes yourself, is a big challenge in the workforce.
The writers striking aren’t just doing it for themselves, but also for everybody else in the workforce, as the actress and campaigner Jameela Jamil highlighted on one of her recent Instagram posts. She also said that some of their writing “saved her life when she was sad, lonely or sick”. And that is the message that I feel needs to be heard. I’m also highlighting these tweets to showcase why writers need our solidarity, now more than ever.
And a Sex and the City star in Cynthia Nixon saying “up the writers!”
But the writers’ strike is not the only industrial action happening, as anyone keeping up with the news will know by now. Last month here in the UK, junior doctors — who help make up the NHS — went on strike for nearly a week (four days). Another set of people who help make up the NHS — nurses — also stepped onto the picket lines. The union representing some of the nurses, the Royal College of Nursing, announced their intention to reballot their members on the government’s 5% pay offer, which the majority of health unions backed.
In schools and colleges, teachers have been on strike again because of pay and working conditions, also the reasons for NHS workers doing the same thing too. And rail workers are due to strike next Saturday (May 13), on the day of the Eurovision final in Liverpool. The Conservatives said that the RMT, representing the majority of rail workers, are “cynically targeting” the song contest, despite their leader Mick Lynch saying that wasn’t the case.
Industrial action has become normalised in the 21st century. What’s also become normalised is the excessive amounts of profit that big corporations have made so far in a time where choosing to heat or eat is a thing, your energy bills are at an all-time high and public service cuts are being made to pave way for privatisation. Capitalism isn’t failing — it’s doing what it’s supposed to do: take money out of the poor and splash it all onto the rich elites.
If there are any lessons we should take from the writers’ strike, they should be this: 1) If a production company asks you to cover for striking writers, refuse the offer. You’ll reduce the chance of being a scab*. 2) Stand in solidarity with striking writers and understand that they’re workers too. 3) Join a union, get organised and fight injustice. Up the writers!
*Scab describes workers who break strikes and cross picket lines during these strikes
