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‘We are not machines’: Hollywood workers poised to strike for better conditions

US unions‘We are not machines’: Hollywood workers poised to strike for better conditionsUnion leaders say a strike will start Monday if there is no deal with studios as workers describe low pay and grueling days without breaks Michael SainatoFri 15 Oct 2021 05.00 EDTLast modified on Fri 15 Oct 2021 12.55 EDTAt the start of the pandemic, Hollywood productions abruptly shut down, leaving many workers out of work before things began to resume with Covid-19 safety protocols in place.Since then, workers in Hollywood say they have worked long schedules and endured increased workloads, including staggering work because of social distancing; wearing and distributing personal protective equipment through long work days; and regularly getting tested for Covid-19.“We were working at breakneck speeds, and that was something that was supposed to have changed. We were supposed to have the time we needed to work in that kind of environment,” said Mike Loomer, a set dresser in Hollywood and International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 44 member.“The only thing that changed is what we had to endure to make the product that they had to have to get out for the public to see.”Studios will again go quiet around the US as IATSE leaders say its 60,000 members will go on strike from 12.01 PT on Monday if a deal is not reached with employers. It would be the first such national strike since the IATSE was formed 128 years ago.Members of …

‘What are the options?’: a new film on the toll of the gig economy

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Documentary films‘What are the options?’: a new film on the toll of the gig economyIn the new documentary The Gig Is Up, film-maker Shannon Walsh travels around the world to uncover the human cost of the new way many of us work David Smith in Washington@ …

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