Sweet Catastrophe

I’m still getting people who think the strike is about already rich people wanting more money. Let’s see if Mike Schur’s words make any more sense to you.

It’s sometimes hard to explain to people that we are not striking to make sure Aaron Sorkin doesn’t have to fall out of escrow on his eleventh vacation home, but rather for the vast majority of our union who work sporadically, who average $62,000 a year, and who often find themselves undesirable hirees around age 40 if they never managed to land a job on a hit show.

So how do we get our point across, to people who don’t understand why we’re doing this? The best way I have found, is to say: everything on the internet? We get zero. They get everything. They get millions and millions and eventually billions and billions, and we get zero. And the “they,” here, is basically six of the biggest baddest companies in the world, run by men who annually receive salaries and compensation well north of 50 million dollars.

Almost there? No? How about a number you can really understand.

…well, over time they will end up reducing my salary by something like 85%.

Get it now? This isn’t about the rich kids, so drop all the crap about Condo Hotels, Ferraris. and 3 vacation homes. Those aren’t the people we’re talking about here.

There’s very little job safety for these people. When they’re in a slump, or out of work altogether, they rely on residuals to get them through. What they’re making this year may have to cover all their bills next year as well.