1 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:05,320 Speaker 1: Last sight, the Screen Actors Guilt voted to strike. Frank 2 00:00:05,400 --> 00:00:09,800 Speaker 1: Dresher is the president of the Screen Actors Guilt. She 3 00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:12,600 Speaker 1: explained perfectly what's at stake. 4 00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:18,520 Speaker 2: What happens here is important because what's happening to us 5 00:00:18,880 --> 00:00:25,000 Speaker 2: is happening across all fields of labor by means of 6 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:33,640 Speaker 2: when employers make wall streets and greed their priority and 7 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:42,120 Speaker 2: they forget about the essential contributors that make the machine run. 8 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:47,559 Speaker 1: This strike is not about privileged actors. It's about the 9 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:52,880 Speaker 1: American middle class. It's about the nature of work. It's 10 00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:56,000 Speaker 1: about the nature of work over the balance of the 11 00:00:56,040 --> 00:01:00,840 Speaker 1: twenty first century. It's about the dignity of the human being. 12 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:10,680 Speaker 1: The American labor movement came into existence during America's Gilded Age, 13 00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:16,760 Speaker 1: and what it created was America's middle class. And America's 14 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:24,440 Speaker 1: middle class became the furnace that fueled American prosperity, American liberty, 15 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:28,360 Speaker 1: and during the Second World War, the American middle class 16 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:34,840 Speaker 1: saved the entire world. Americans deserve to be able to 17 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:39,280 Speaker 1: go to work and earn a living that helps them 18 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:44,520 Speaker 1: create prosperity for themselves and their family, gives them an 19 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:50,040 Speaker 1: opportunity to climb the economic ladder to live a purposeful 20 00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:55,480 Speaker 1: and dignified life. The question at hand, and it is 21 00:01:55,520 --> 00:02:02,040 Speaker 1: a profound one, is this, Should most of America be 22 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:08,320 Speaker 1: pauperized and exists in a state of indentured servitude to 23 00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:13,160 Speaker 1: the nation's one percent. Should people be able to have 24 00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:18,440 Speaker 1: basic economic security or should they be pledged to a 25 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:23,080 Speaker 1: life of anxiety and worry? Because forty percent of the 26 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:27,520 Speaker 1: population in the United States of America, the wealthiest country 27 00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:31,359 Speaker 1: in the history of the world, has only four hundred 28 00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:37,160 Speaker 1: dollars available in case of an emergency. Vast percentages of 29 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:42,320 Speaker 1: Americans live paycheck to paycheck, one broken leg away from 30 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:49,079 Speaker 1: financial destitution and ruin. It is unfair and it is wrong. 31 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:57,400 Speaker 1: Fran Dresser is precisely right. What this fight is about 32 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:04,560 Speaker 1: is perfectly clear. It is drawing a line in the 33 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:11,280 Speaker 1: sand and saying to Wall Street, enough is enough, is enough. 34 00:03:12,880 --> 00:03:17,320 Speaker 1: That's what the strike is about. Fran Drescher expressed it perfectly. 35 00:03:19,400 --> 00:03:23,440 Speaker 1: We are living through a new gilded age and what 36 00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:28,280 Speaker 1: is happening is perfectly clear. Can you hear the rumble, 37 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:34,480 Speaker 1: the sound, it's the sound of the American labor movement 38 00:03:34,639 --> 00:03:40,880 Speaker 1: roaring back to life. This is a momentous strike and 39 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:44,720 Speaker 1: it will have profound implications. But it doesn't exist in 40 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:50,640 Speaker 1: a vacuum. It exists along a continuum of mistreatment of 41 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:56,640 Speaker 1: America's workers by America's richest CEOs and companies. I think 42 00:03:56,720 --> 00:04:01,160 Speaker 1: what is awakened America's labor movement or the excesses of 43 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:07,280 Speaker 1: Storebucks and its accused campaign of union busting. Starbucks workers 44 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:11,160 Speaker 1: were fed a line of BSS. They were told that 45 00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:16,920 Speaker 1: they were partners, and then they were degraded because they 46 00:04:16,960 --> 00:04:21,600 Speaker 1: couldn't make enough money to live for a full time job. 47 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:27,279 Speaker 1: And so what did they do? They formed a union, 48 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:31,359 Speaker 1: which is their right. And what did the company do? 49 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:36,040 Speaker 1: The company tried to break the union, which is against 50 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:43,039 Speaker 1: the law. The company made a tremendous error because Americans 51 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:45,479 Speaker 1: are a defiant people who don't like being told what 52 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:49,960 Speaker 1: to do by the most powerful amongst us. And so 53 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:56,839 Speaker 1: the union movement took off within Starbucks. The union movement 54 00:04:57,279 --> 00:05:01,479 Speaker 1: started to come back to life, and now at the 55 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:06,919 Speaker 1: edge of the age of intelligent machines that will eviscerate 56 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:13,840 Speaker 1: thousands and thousands of occupations across America. If you're a radiologist, 57 00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:19,640 Speaker 1: the writer's strike is about your job. If you're an accountant, 58 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:24,560 Speaker 1: the actors strike matters to you. Wall Street's interest is 59 00:05:24,600 --> 00:05:28,000 Speaker 1: to make as much money as possible for as few 60 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:33,599 Speaker 1: people as possible at the top, and if it means 61 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:38,400 Speaker 1: pauperizing the entire population into a form of indentured servitude 62 00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:41,320 Speaker 1: where they get paid pennies on the dollar for their 63 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:46,040 Speaker 1: contribution and the machines do everything else, they'll be perfectly 64 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:51,640 Speaker 1: satisfied because you can't see the misery left behind from 65 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:56,960 Speaker 1: the superiachts for out at sea or from the space 66 00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:02,120 Speaker 1: station covering above. The UPS and the Teamsters are in 67 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:07,000 Speaker 1: very heated negotiations right now. The estimated cost of a 68 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:10,800 Speaker 1: strike to the American economy should the Teamsters walk out 69 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:16,400 Speaker 1: on UPS, it's seven billion dollars over ten days. But 70 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:21,240 Speaker 1: here's the thing. The Teamsters are an essential institution in 71 00:06:21,279 --> 00:06:27,080 Speaker 1: America because the Teamsters helped build the American middle class. 72 00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:30,520 Speaker 1: And what has happened to the American middle class over 73 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:36,359 Speaker 1: the last thirty to forty years is it has been wrecked, decimated, hobbled. 74 00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:40,840 Speaker 1: It's time to rebuild it. And I think what you're 75 00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:45,720 Speaker 1: seeing is the beginning of the movement that will do that, 76 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:50,640 Speaker 1: that is asserting the system is unfair, that life without 77 00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:58,520 Speaker 1: work is purposeless, but work without dignity is also. Dignity 78 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:02,279 Speaker 1: comes from being able to for your family, to be 79 00:07:02,360 --> 00:07:06,120 Speaker 1: able to build for the future, to be able to 80 00:07:06,279 --> 00:07:10,000 Speaker 1: say your children on a path where they can live 81 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:14,480 Speaker 1: their dreams and maybe do better than the generation that 82 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:19,760 Speaker 1: came before. This is elemental to the American dream and 83 00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:25,480 Speaker 1: the American experience. This isn't a strike about the wealthiest 84 00:07:25,520 --> 00:07:31,040 Speaker 1: actors in Hollywood. It's about the middle class. It's about 85 00:07:31,080 --> 00:07:33,920 Speaker 1: the working men and women who play a vital part 86 00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:40,360 Speaker 1: of America's economy and are an important aspect of America's power. 87 00:07:41,760 --> 00:07:45,360 Speaker 1: America isn't just the wealthiest nation in the world, it's 88 00:07:45,400 --> 00:07:50,280 Speaker 1: the most powerful. Most of us tend to equate power 89 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:55,520 Speaker 1: with military might. Now, America's military is certainly the most 90 00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:59,560 Speaker 1: powerful in the world. But America is not a powerful 91 00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:04,480 Speaker 1: nation because of its military or its wealth. It is 92 00:08:04,520 --> 00:08:09,600 Speaker 1: a powerful nation because of its culture. And there is 93 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:14,760 Speaker 1: no group of people that are more important to the 94 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:20,920 Speaker 1: projection of America's culture and thus its power than America's artists. 95 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:27,280 Speaker 1: It's musicians, its writers, and its actors. It is not 96 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:33,240 Speaker 1: Russian cinema that captivates the world, and it's not Chinese, 97 00:08:33,559 --> 00:08:38,480 Speaker 1: it's American artistry. America is the creative capital of the world, 98 00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:44,840 Speaker 1: and that creativity inspires the entire world towards the ideas 99 00:08:44,840 --> 00:08:50,080 Speaker 1: of liberty and freedom, and what comes from that is 100 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:59,280 Speaker 1: pluralism and decency and opportunity. Capitalism isn't about servicing the 101 00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:04,320 Speaker 1: top one percent. We're the top half percent. You can't say, 102 00:09:05,080 --> 00:09:08,880 Speaker 1: if you're ted Surrando's that I'm going to pay one 103 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:12,720 Speaker 1: hundred million dollars to these two and then say I 104 00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:18,800 Speaker 1: have no money to pay anyone else. At the core, 105 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:25,880 Speaker 1: what this strike is about isn't wealth. It's not about money. 106 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:32,640 Speaker 1: It's about a simple and fundamental concept that is as 107 00:09:32,679 --> 00:09:40,480 Speaker 1: necessary for the American people as air and water. What 108 00:09:40,520 --> 00:09:46,480 Speaker 1: this strike is about is dignity and the right of 109 00:09:46,559 --> 00:09:52,040 Speaker 1: the American people to be able to have some financial security. 110 00:09:53,800 --> 00:09:58,960 Speaker 1: Understand this. It is the Actor's Guild on strike, and 111 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:03,120 Speaker 1: it is the Writer's skilled on strike. But what the 112 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:11,600 Speaker 1: strike is about effects every single American gets up and 113 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:17,240 Speaker 1: goes to work. Who isn't worth fifty million dollars. The 114 00:10:17,440 --> 00:10:23,240 Speaker 1: actors and writers strike, and their fight is your fight. 115 00:10:24,559 --> 00:10:28,719 Speaker 1: If you get up every day, you work hard, you 116 00:10:28,800 --> 00:10:32,160 Speaker 1: play by the rules, and you do everything that you 117 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:35,120 Speaker 1: think that you're supposed to be doing, but you keep 118 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:40,240 Speaker 1: falling behind. If you're worried about the machine taking your job, 119 00:10:41,320 --> 00:10:45,280 Speaker 1: if you are worried about being replaced by chat GBT, 120 00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:54,280 Speaker 1: then this strike is your strike. Work without dignity will 121 00:10:54,360 --> 00:10:59,719 Speaker 1: deprive people of purpose. A society filled with men and 122 00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:04,800 Speaker 1: women without purpose and dignity will fall. And what will 123 00:11:04,960 --> 00:11:11,679 Speaker 1: rise is not a democracy but something terrible. When you 124 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:14,920 Speaker 1: have a country where forty percent of the people have 125 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:19,080 Speaker 1: four hundred dollars, what that does is it collapses faith 126 00:11:19,640 --> 00:11:26,400 Speaker 1: and belief in what in everything. And in a country 127 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:30,360 Speaker 1: where faith and belief collapses, do you know what happens? 128 00:11:33,360 --> 00:11:39,760 Speaker 1: People like this come to power. And when people like 129 00:11:39,840 --> 00:11:45,640 Speaker 1: this come to power on the power of their demagoguery 130 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:51,240 Speaker 1: and their lives, stoking and inciting angry people who have 131 00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:58,000 Speaker 1: every right to be aggrieved, this is the result. Franklin 132 00:11:58,160 --> 00:12:02,400 Speaker 1: Roosevelt in the nineteenth thirties, during the Great Depression, with 133 00:12:02,520 --> 00:12:10,880 Speaker 1: his New Deal didn't just save capitalism, he saved democracy. 134 00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:16,760 Speaker 1: The Writers' strike and the actors Guild strike are not 135 00:12:16,880 --> 00:12:22,040 Speaker 1: trivial matters. It's about middle class people demanding respect and 136 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:26,400 Speaker 1: dignity for their work, from their bosses who cannot make 137 00:12:26,440 --> 00:12:30,840 Speaker 1: a dime without them, who make billions with them but 138 00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:35,040 Speaker 1: are pauperizing them while they're floating around the world on 139 00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:40,760 Speaker 1: their yachts, a part removed from Americans who just want 140 00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:44,559 Speaker 1: a fair shot and a decent paycheck for a decent 141 00:12:44,679 --> 00:12:45,319 Speaker 1: day's work.