Strike Two

Protect yourself.

I'm not going to get into the details of the Hollywood strikes, other than to note that what you heard from Disney's Bob Iger -- things have changed, the strikers are being "unrealistic" -- is pretty much what you've heard from management in radio, and podcasting, and, let's face it, every industry in the last few years. It's the economy. It's inflation. It's competition. It's AI. It's the public's fault. It's the workers' fault. It's everyone's fault, and nobody's fault. Whatever the reason, we just can't pay you what you want. Oh, and we'd like to replace you at will. Check this out: We can take your voice and image and generate it artificially! Here's a one-time payment, thanks, there's the door.

Again, protect yourself.

What's happening in the writers' and actors' strike is going to happen in other industries. (UPS is next in line.) Management sees the chance to cut humans loose and replace them with AI, autonomous vehicles, whatever technology is on the horizon. (It won't matter if the technology doesn't work as well as humans; by the time they realize that, the damage will have been done.) They can do it if there's no resistance. Unions are one roadblock, but you can see in the Hollywood strikes that the studios would be quite pleased with breaking the unions, hence the stray comments about holding out until the strikers lose their homes and apartments.

No union? Don't accept jobs that pay too little for you to comfortably live, don't accept subpar working conditions, don't believe the idea that the "glamour" of the job is so great that you should be happy to accept less than you're worth. Don't agree to give them your voice and talent to be sucked up into an AI platform. Don't sign anything that you don't understand; it's worth paying a lawyer to review those papers first. Don't sign away rights. Don't agree to onerous nondisclosure agreements. Don't believe any promises they won't put into writing.

Okay, the caveat: Not all employers are evil. Not all employers are looking to rip you off. Many are reasonable people who are willing to work out any issues you may have. But the pressure to make their goals, especially at companies with crippling debt and investors looking over the CEO's shoulder, can make even reasonable people do unreasonable things. And, yes, the bosses will rarely take the same cuts to their own compensation that they'll require of their employees. The disparity in pay between CEOs and the rank-and-file will always be there, like death and taxes.

What else can you do? You could look for another profession. I've told you this before, but I have heard from a lot of people who walked away from radio and say they are far happier in their new positions, from real estate to retail and everything in between. Some miss talking on the radio, but none regret the move. That should tell you something. Or you can try to fight back, but without organization and unity, that's an uphill and lonely battle.

Whatever you do, stand up for yourself. Don't accept what, deep down, you know should be unacceptable. What's "unrealistic" to the CEO might be exactly what you deserve. Settling for less hurts you and everyone in the business. Don't be afraid to set your personal bar higher, and accept nothing less.

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I'm back from vacation, and while I was out, Threads became a thing. I'll have some thoughts about that soon, but if you're looking for me there for some reason, I'm at @pmsimon, same as everyplace else (except BlueSky, for which I haven't gotten an invite), I'm not sure that I'm positive and encouraging enough for Threads, but I know I'm not hostile enough for Twitter anymore.

Perry Michael Simon
Senior Vice President/Editor-in-Chief and News-Talk-Sports-Podcasting Editor
AllAccess.com
psimon@allaccess.com
Twitter @pmsimon
Instagram (and Threads) @pmsimon
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