In this op-ed, SAG-AFTRA's national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland explores the SAG-AFTRA strike and explains why labor organizing is so impactful in and out of Hollywood. This story is part of Teen Vogue's New Hollywood Class of 2024 package.
When actors walked off set and hoisted their picket signs during the summer of 2023, everyone began learning a complex truth about the lives of professional performers. Those who appear in our favorite films and series are, in fact, mostly not millionaires living in mansions in Beverly Hills. Even those who manage to secure coveted recurring roles on series — after hundreds of hours of unpaid auditioning — often take on additional employment waiting tables or driving for ridesharing services to make ends meet.
What actors were fighting for during the 118-day actors’ strike wasn’t only more pay and better working conditions. They were fighting for future generations of performers. As AI technology makes it easier than ever to generate digital replicas of someone’s likeness and voice, actors needed to fight to make sure their contracts ensured protections. Without the guarantee of informed consent and fair compensation, actors’ work could be exploited, without pay, however their employers wanted. Their livelihoods would then be irreparably harmed, if not extinguished forever.
Last year, following the longest SAG-AFTRA strike in history, performers were able to secure the compensation, working conditions, and protections they deserved because they were part of a union. And history has shown that the only way workers have ever been able to make gains for themselves in the United States has been through the power of collective action.
Actors aren’t the only individuals whose futures are under threat by both AI technology and corporate greed. The first two months of 2024 has seen tens of thousands of layoffs in the tech industry. Gen Z had been told the best path to a prosperous future was to invest in a college education and learn computer programming, but now they’re finding their jobs replaced by AI. In fact, workers across all industries are feeling the impact of an economic system that prioritizes building more wealth for the shareholders of major corporations rather than supporting sustainable communities. People, especially those just entering the workforce, are working endless side hustles and finding the cost of rent, transportation, and healthcare nearly impossible to manage.
If left unchecked, corporations will continue to be rewarded for doing whatever it takes to continue increasing profits at the expense of everyone else. This can mean low pay for all workers, fewer job openings as individuals are laden with more work, and contracts that exploit intellectual property rights. Without change, those currently in their teens and twenties will be scrambling for even more part-time-jobs and side gigs in order to afford the ever-increasing cost of living.
Labor organizing has never been more important.
Nationwide, public sentiment for unions has been rising, but union membership has dropped to a 40-year low. This is because corporate-funded lobbyists push for laws that make it hard for workers to unionize, and employers often spare no expense (often spending millions of dollars) in employing union busting strategies.
You can fight back.
If you’re employed in a workplace that isn’t unionized, educate yourself and your fellow workers about the law and your rights to organize. Worker.gov has some easy-to-follow instructions on how to join with coworkers and address conditions at work.
Solidarity is vital. Support union workers by buying union made products. Aflcio.org has a handy guide on their website. You can also show up to union rallies and pickets to increase their numbers and share their messages on social media. And, of course, never cross a picket line. Creators and influencers on social media platforms like TikTok honored our picket lines and stood with actors regardless of whether they themselves were members — both out of unity and because they understand that we are all in the same boat, together.
The corporations may have the wealth, but workers — especially the younger generations — have the numbers.
Leverage your voice on social media, your power in numbers and your refusal to tolerate corporate greed by joining the labor movement’s fight for a better future.
SAG-AFTRA fought on behalf of our members and won, but if protections aren’t put in place to protect all individuals — union and non-union alike — from what corporate employers can do, the conglomerates will gain new ground in their pursuit of their ultimate goal: maximizing their own profits at the expense of workers and their ideas. That would mean fewer humans in the workforce, and fewer humans able to pursue careers in art, entertainment, and creativity.
I believe a better world is possible. And with solidarity, we can make that world a reality.
Read all of our New Hollywood 2024 stories below:
- Maddie Ziegler on Dance Moms, New Movie Fitting In & Embracing Hollywood
- Ariana Greenblatt on Barbie, Borderlands, Billie Eilish & Child Stardom
- Keith Powers on Uglies, SAG Strikes, Issa Rae & Finding His Own Lane
- Christopher Briney on Renée Rapp, Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3 & Hollywood Next Moves
- Aida Osman on Rap Sh!t Cancellation, Black Stories in Hollywood & Facing Acting Fears
- Iñaki Godoy on One Piece, Latinos in Hollywood & Living His Best Life
- Megan Suri on Valentine’s Day, Bollywood & Movie Career Post Never Have I Ever
- The SAG Strike Proved How Unions Help Make Young People’s Dreams Viable