#HotStrikesSummer is here y’all. Everybody put on your comfortable shoes and grab a picket sign. We’ve got marching to do.
Everybody is doing it. The joint effort between two of the biggest entertainment unions in America has been dominating the summer and shows no sign of slowing down. Between the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA, everyone from stunt performers to mega-celebrities has been demonstrating day in and day out in what has been the hottest summer on record.
So far, Hollywood executives are refusing to give in to the striker’s demands. Instead, they’ve admitted they’re waiting until the writers and actors exhaust all of their financial resources and become homeless, forcing them back to work out of desperation. Now what kind of supervillain Lex Luthor evil businessman type shit is this? People aren’t happy about it. Hellboy actor Ron Pearlman himself had some choice words for Bob Iger, warning him to “be careful” in a recent TikTok while also saying “we know where you live.” Pearl woke up and chose violence that day, and Hollywood’s disenfranchised are right behind him.
It’s safe to say that we are approaching guillotine levels of antipathy toward the rich in America. After a bunch of billionaires imploded while trapped in a submarine that might as well have been bought at Goodwill, there was not an outpouring of grief on the internet, but of memes. From all corners the internet, social media users came together to lampoon the late billionaires’ decision to pilot their way to a watery grave with a Logitech controller. The memes were brutal, unsympathetic, and downright hilarious. Many saw what the news called a “tragedy” as a sweet, sweet display of karma against a group of people undone by their own greed and hubris. America no longer wants to eat bread or cake. This nation wants to eat the rich, and is growing hungrier by the hour.
While the entertainment industry strikes have been getting a huge amount of media attention this summer, it is far from the only industry organizing this year. Among them all, the industries are different, but the story is the same. Multi-millionaire executives are stealing the labor value of the multi-millions. And the millions have had enough.
Here are some of the labor groups that are, have been, or are gearing up to take part in #HotStrikeSummer:
Marriott And Other Hotels
A union of over 15,000 workers across 65 major hotel chains in the Los Angeles and Orange County areas followed through with their plan to organize a massive strike in early July. The union, called Unite Here Local 11, organized the strike in order to fight for better wages for workers. Employees from JW Marriott LA Live and Millennium Biltmore in the downtown LA area have been demonstrating all month, as well as workers from the Fairmont Miramar in Santa Monica and the Sheraton Universal Hotel. According to a union spokesperson, the workers intend to strike for “however long it takes.”
Hotel management in the meantime is filling in absent positions with nonunion scabs, straight out of the coal baron playbook of America’s past. According to Unite Here Local 11, skyrocketing living costs have caused hospitality workers to be priced out of the cities where they work. According to a union survey, 53% said that they have been forced to move in the past five years or will move in the future.
McDonald’s
Workers at a McDonald’s location in East LA are joining the collective picket line after a company manager’s cruel labor practices allegedly caused the death of an employee. Workers have said that management regularly requires them to show up even when sick or injured, and that a company employee died a few days after being forced to show up to her shift despite extreme illness. The woman’s name was Bertha Montes, and her coworkers say that they themselves have nearly succumbed to a similar fate. “I was almost in Bertha’s shoes,” Nayeli Hernandez, a former employee at the location where Montes died, told ABC7. “I was diagnosed with pneumonia because I had gotten sick and management didn’t let me go home.” Another employee was forced to come in to work after being injured in a car accident.
“We were deeply saddened to learn of Bertha’s passing,” said McDonald’s in a statement. “Our top priority is always the health and wellbeing of our people, and we have policies in place to provide flexibility and accommodations, including sick pay, for crew members who are ill. We are looking into these serious allegations.” I’ll believe it when I see it.
Yellow Freight (Averted! Labor win!)
A strike organized by workers at the freight company Yellow Freight was averted at the last minute after executives cut a deal with a 22,000 strong employee force. Had been enraged when the company announced it would be cutting pensions for workers after having accepted $700 million in COVID-19 government bailouts. One worker was rightfully incensed after his manager told him he would be losing his pension despite having worked for the company for thirty years. Let this be a lesson that striking WORKS. After all, it’s the reason why people work 8 hours a day 5 days a week, and not 12 hours a day 6 days a week in unsafe conditions in the first place.
UPS (Tentatively averted!)
UPS narrowly avoided what was likely to be a devastating strike after reaching a deal with Teamsters today. According to 340,000-strong union president Sean O’Brien, the deal is worth an estimated $30 billion dollars. “The union went into this fight committed to winning for our members. We demanded the best contract in the history of UPS, and we got it,” O’Brien. in a statement. Part-time workers will be receiving a pay raise of $21 an hour, and full-time workers will be making up to $49 AN HOUR. The deal will also end “mandatory overtime” on drivers’ days off. Because yes, apparently “mandatory overtime” is a thing. #HotStrikeSummer claims another victory.
Gannett
Hundreds of journalists in the largest newspaper chain in America took to the picket lines earlier this summer after demanding a change to company leadership. The two-day June strike involved dozens of local newspaper chains across eight states. who are protesting the company’s harmful efforts to cut costs. The demonstration coincided with a company shareholder meeting, and was yet another stain on the well-soiled reputation of company CEO and board chairman Mike Reed. During Reed’s tenure as CEO, the company merged with GateHouse Media, a decision that resulted in massive layoffs and a company stock value plummet of over 60%. Reed’s subsequent cost-cutting measures have included forced furloughs and suspensions of 401k contributions. I think it’s time to throw in the towel Mike, or things are gonna get even uglier.
Amazon
Despite Lex Luthoritarian leader Jeff Bezos’ best efforts, Amazon workers are continuing their push to organize a union. The conditions at Amazon “fulfillment centers” are famously deplorable, and have been flagged by the U.S. Department of Labor. The labor is back-breaking, and employees have had enough. It’s only a matter of time before teamsters at Amazon are successful in organizing, despite the megacorp’s best efforts to beat them down. May #HotStrikeSummer serve to further inspire them. Strikespeed, Amazon employees. Strikespeed.
Starbucks
As a company, Starbucks markets itself as a progressive, liberal-minded space that offers a safe haven to trans workers. In reality, they’re just as heartless as every other major company. A federal judge recently ruled that Starbucks’ union-busting activities were not only wrong, but downright illegal. Workers at the company have said the managers have attempted to convince them not to unionize, hinting that their healthcare may be taken away as a result. Most horrifyingly, trans employees have become a major target of Starbucks’ union-busting efforts, and managers have threatened that trans people may see their gender-affirming care coverage offered by the company vanish. Yes, Starbucks threatens one of America’s most vulnerable populations in their greatest hour of political need all so they can keep selling their overpriced beanwater on the cheap. Morally bankrupt. In response, workers have recently shut down five Starbucks locations across Philadelphia. Let’s hope #HotStrikeSummer makes the company financially bankrupt as well.
Kaiser Permanente
Healthcare workers from more than 40 Kaiser Permanente facilities across California are on strike as workers negotiate a new contract. Workers have reported feeling “undervalued” and according to CBS News, “Workers say there has been a health care staffing crisis at Kaiser for years, exacerbated by the pandemic with many departments constantly short-staffed. They say this makes it difficult to provide quality care, leading to long wait times, mistaken diagnoses and neglect.”
You can watch the moment the strike was announced above—which appears to have happened at a Marriott Hotel of all places!
Laborers around the world are joining in
Doctors and nurses at the National Health Service in the U.K. are staging devastating walkouts protesting long hours and low pay. This comes on the heels of one of the biggest public transit worker strikes in U.K. history. Meanwhile in Cairo, BBC staff along with colleagues across the Middle East recently ended a three day long strike protesting the company’s low wages. The workers are demanding to be paid in U.S. dollars or a substantial pay raise in the local currency. Khaled el-Balshy, the spokesperson for the strikers said that the BBC’s low wages were an example of “clear discrimination” when compared with the wages of other BBC employees in The Middle East. Egypt’s economy is in a downward spiral, and the Egyptian pound has lost over 50% of its value against the dollar. Meanwhile, annual inflation has reached 36.8% in June, a 3% rise from the 33.7% recorded in May. Does this mean that BBC is exploiting their employees economic woes abroad in order to increase profits at home? Yes. Yes it does. While the strike has ended for now, employees are threatening future strikes if these demands are not met. We are standing in front of (further) legal escalation. We will contact different parties and will raise up our voice,” said el-Balshy in a statement.
#HotStrikeSummer is just getting started.
(featured image: Mario Tama/Getty Images)
