The ‘Summer Of Strikes’ (And Other Headlines)

I’m not breaking any news here: We’re entering the country’s strike era (again).

Employees' demands grow

As we began preparing this morning’s newsletter, we asked ourselves if we wanted to repeat the news from yesterday afternoon. We journalists don’t like presenting day-old information unless there’s context.

I read this line from my colleague Tyler Wayne’s reporting: “The writers and actors have not been on strike at the same time since 1960.” We have a moment on our hands, people — that’s the context.

While Hollywood’s actors and writers are officially on strike, as you may know, the film industry is not the only one experiencing turmoil in Southern California. It’s gone so far that this era we’re living through has been branded the “Summer of Strikes.”

Yesterday, fast food workers in L.A. took to the streets to protest low wages and unsafe working conditions.

Earlier this week, SoCal also saw its second wave of strikes from hotel workers who hit the streets after their union (UNITE HERE Local 11) and 61 hotels failed to meet an agreement over employee contracts at the end of last month.

During the press conference announcing their strike, SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher commented on the labor movement writ-large:

“The eyes of the world, and particularly the eyes of labor are upon us. What happens here is important because what is happening to us is happening across all fields of labor,” she noted in her speech.

Across the board, employees are fighting back against what they allege are power imbalances with their employers. While their grievances center around wages, the root cause of what we’re seeing this summer goes a lot deeper. In a post-pandemic field, workers are facing a host of brand new working conditions that they argue their current contracts fail to consider.

Jonathan Harris, an associate professor at Loyola Law School who specializes in labor, points to what he calls the “gig-ifcation” of labor as one of those changes to the employment landscape.

“[It’s] work that is much more intermittent and not steady in the way that it used to be. And yet corporations are making more profits than ever on the labor of those workers that have more and more precarity in their workplace,” Harris told LAist.

And that’s certainly the case for Hollywood’s writers and actors, who have cited the rise of streaming platforms as a key catalyst for their movement.

Just one example: Because of streamers, shows that would normally spend months in production — airing week-to-week — are now wrapped within just a few weeks, with full-season drops. This means those employees have to jump project-to-project, constantly looking for new work.

Like many issues in the state, California’s high cost of living is only adding fuel to the fire. According to U.S. Census Bureau data aggregated by RentCafe.com, the cost of living in California is 39% higher than the national average. That fact might be part of why we are seeing so many strikes in L.A. in particular.

“The fact that there's so many workers here that are struggling is not just because of a single bad employer, but instead because of how entire industries are structured in a way that are designed to make profits first for those companies and put workers — even workers with the union — on the backburner,” Harris said, adding that what we’re seeing right now could be indicative of more turbulence ahead for labor in America.

“I think the more of these strikes that we see, the more it's going to require some systemic change,” he said. “This mini-wave of strikes, historically speaking, is a sign that things could be trending in that direction.”

With the Teamsters set to strike with UPS workers early next month, Harris might have hit the nail on the head.

Shoutout to our intern Eden Teshome for today’s topic idea and additional reporting this week.

Stay safe and cool, L.A. There’s more news below — just keep reading. 

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Wait... one more thing

Yes, it's a bird

Hike to the M*A*S*H filming location in the Malibu Creek State Park.

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Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is marked with CC PDM 1.0.

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Birdwatching may not be your exact cup of tea (or it is), but getting outside may be. The SFV Audubon Society is organizing a hike/walk for birdwatchers at Malibu Creek State Park on Sunday. More info on their site. It’s a chance for you to explore that park, which is amazing, I have to say.

If a hike and/or bird watching isn’t really your thing, there’s more to choose from in my colleague Christine Ziemba’s list of things to do this weekend.