Twitter’s laid-off janitorial staff are members of SEIU Local 87, the custodians union which represents 5, 000 janitors in the Bay Area. Unlike the earlier layoffs, Musk’s most recent firings target unionized workers protected under a collective bargaining agreement. Former Twitter staff were unresponsive when asked for information on current press contacts. Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters phone number and support number were no longer active. In the absence of a communications department at Twitter, In These Times sent a request for comment to which did not respond. The move comes less than two months after Musk, who bought Twitter on October 27, fired several senior executives and later roughly 3, 700 employees ranging from engineers to communications workers to content moderators- half the company’s staff-on November 4. In These Times spoke to four janitors who say that all 20 custodial workers at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters lost their jobs on December 5 because Twitter’s new custodial contractor refused to rehire them. But Musk’s acquisition also has dire, albeit underreported, consequences for the service staff who keep the blue bird humming. Being poor all of the time, being unable to do the kind of work I want to do every day, and being looked over for roles because of YouTube stars like your daughter is not what I would call fun.Billionaire Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has captured headlines for its tumultuous effect on the company’s corporate staff and the risks it poses to the platform’s future survival. “Do you do this for fun?” was a question I grappled with for many years. Some decide to give up on their passion altogether. An actor can fall into the aspirational loop for years without ever getting ahead, struggling to make ends meet. Streaming hasn’t helped in today’s market, commercial and critical success often fails to translate into fair pay. We tell ourselves that the job may come with a small paycheck, but the exposure may lead to bigger and better opportunities. We learn very early on to settle for little if it means getting to do our art. I once did a New York play production with a contract where both union and nonunion actors could work on the same show - but union actors like me received $300 for three months of rehearsals and performances, while nonunion actors got nothing.Īctors have long been conditioned to feel grateful that they are being included and paid for it. Actors join these unions hoping to work on large-scale projects and make more money, though sometimes the union card makes little difference. I was part of Actors Equity, the theater union. Though I mainly worked in film and TV, I never joined SAG-AFTRA. I can’t count the times I’ve been on a set where we shot hours past the time we were scheduled to wrap filming. Even if they do, if they’re new to the industry they often start off nonunion, have to work in low-budget productions and get paid little. Unless it’s a contract for a long show, an actor seldom gets an opportunity to work numerous times in a row. It’s also not implausible to see an actor make their debut on Broadway one year and then find them passing hors d’oeuvres at a Tony awards after-party the next. Maisel” and then spot them dressed as an elf at Christmastime when heading up an escalator at a department store. It’s not implausible to watch someone on an episode of “The Marvelous Mrs. Most spend much of their days working a job that has nothing to do with their skill set or passion so they can pay their rent and utility bills. Actors have always been in crisis.Īn actor is out of work 90% of the time. Our profession isn’t suddenly in crisis in 2023. The crux of the union’s argument is that actors finally deserve proper compensation for their work. But this dispute is not at its heart about new technology or AI. SAG-AFTRA has trenchantly described how streaming services and AI technology are transforming and threatening the existing creative landscape of Hollywood.
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