After nearly two weeks of negotiations, and rising hope that the SAG-AFTRA strike would end sooner rather than later—a setback. Last night, AMPTP announced the negotiations are “suspended”. Now, take this with a grain of salt, because it is all coming from the management side, and as of this writing, SAG-AFTRA has not weighed in. Per the statement from AMPTP, “the gap between the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA is too great, and conversations are no longer moving us in a productive direction.”
In particular, the hitch seems to be a “viewership bonus” that would cost $800 million per year—amortized across 32 companies, including some of the biggest and most profitable companies in the world. AMPTP calls this an “untenable economic burden”. $800 million is a lot, but Warner Bros. Discovery’s revenue in 2022 was $33.8 billion. Disney’s revenue was $82.7 billion. Sony’s revenue was $80.6 billion. Paramount Global’s revenue was $30.15 billion. Netflix’s revenue was $31.6 billion. Amazon’s revenue was almost $514 billion, and Apple’s was over $394 billion.
You might forgive a person for thinking these companies can absorb a portion of an $800 million annual expense and still be making LITERAL TENS, IF NOT HUNDREDS, OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS. I mean sh-t, Warner Bros. Discovery could pay the whole $800 million and still have over $30 billion in revenue. Oh no, you’re being asked to make SLIGHTLY less billions. How horrible for you.
You know what’s an “untenable economic burden”? $700 per month health insurance. $3,400 a month to rent a studio apartment. Being unable to retire because you have no savings. Putting your chemotherapy on credit cards or being unable to pay your kid’s school lunch bill. People have actual problems and some of them are sacrificing wages in order to fight to lighten these very real economic burdens.
What did you think people meant when they said they wanted a living wage? What kind of “living” are you imagining? Because I think it is people hoping that their job—their ONE job, not their two jobs and a side hustle—covers all their expenses with some cushion left over for things like “retirement” and “kids’ education”. I am REALLY starting to wonder what these business bozos think qualifies as a living wage. I have a feeling it’s some revolution-inducing level bullsh-t.
Attached - Noah Wyle and Jack Black on strike in LA earlier in the week.
