Navigating the Perils of Hollywood Strikes: Actors, Writers, and Health Insurance at Risk
As the strike by 11,000 film and television writers and 65,000 actors in the US continues, the greatest danger they face is the isolation of their strike. The conglomerates, including Warner Bros Discovery, Apple, Netflix, Amazon, Disney, and Paramount, have no intention of negotiating with the striking writers and actors and are determined to "break the WGA." The companies' proposal fails to protect writers from the existential threats that caused the strike in the first place. The WGA and SAG-AFTRA leaderships are looking for a deal that they can "sell" to their members, but the current course of the strike can only lead to disaster. Breaking the isolation of the strike and building rank-and-file committees independent of the union bureaucracy is crucial for the success of the writers and actors in their fight against corporate power.