“The Drew Barrymore Show” is coming back on Oct. 16, about a month after she announced she would be violating the Writers Guild of America strike by producing new episodes. Though she later reversed her decision to cross the picket line and kept the show off-air, the show’s three co-head writers won’t be coming back—by their own decision. Leaving a steady job writing for television is a big move, but apparently, Barrymore’s writers felt too disrespected to return.
It wasn’t just that Barrymore announced her show would violate the WGA strike rules to go back on the air in September: She didn’t even notify the striking writers. They found out via social media.
“It is a bummer to hear that the show is going back because it sends a message that union writers are not valuable,” writer Chelsea White told The Hollywood Reporter at the time. It seems that Barrymore’s apology when she reversed the decision—“I have no words to express my deepest apologies to anyone I have hurt and, of course, to our incredible team who works on the show and has made it what it is today”—wasn’t enough.
Barrymore’s show is allowed to go back on despite the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike since her role as host is covered by a different contract than the one at issue in that strike. SAG-AFTRA is actively negotiating with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers in the wake of the WGA strike resolving. At the same time, SAG-AFTRA members voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike against video game companies under the union’s Interactive Media Agreement if negotiations on that contract don’t make progress.
Entertainment isn’t the only industry where workers are striking. This week, 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers started what is reportedly the largest health care strike in U.S. history. In addition to wanting wage increases that at least keep up with inflation, which Kaiser is not offering in contract negotiations, the workers cite short-staffing that affects them and patients alike.
“We have folks getting injured on the job because they’re trying to do too much and see too many people and work too quickly. It’s not a sustainable situation,” Caroline Lucas, executive director of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, told CNBC.
The United Auto Workers union also remains on strike against the Big Three auto manufacturers:
www.youtube.com/embed/0dl_paqNnmw?si=s4m0QLSoBnDAH5Tx
In Durham, North Carolina, sanitation workers are striking for $5,000 bonuses for those making less than $75,000 a year, extra pay when they do extra work, and for the city to directly hire workers rather than contract the work.
From industry to industry, so many of the issues are the same: pay, yes, but also whether there are enough people to do the work; whether there’s enough work to live on; outsourcing, whether to contractors, other countries, or artificial intelligence; and the experience of watching your paycheck stay the same while corporate profits and executive pay go up. And in every case, building worker power is the answer.
Republished with permission from Daily Kos.
