Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit
alex43578 | on: America has lost 200k of jobs in media, film and the arts. How much is AI?
Not keep adding to the taxes, expenses, and red tape? Work to address the outrageous cost of living in CA that indirectly drives expenses for labor? It's a million and one policies that all contribute to how running a labor heavy business in CA is increasingly challenging (bearing in mind that those factors matter less to a software shop or Apple).

As I mentioned elsewhere in the thread, CA's labor-pool's own hostility to the film industry (via strikes) also played a big role. They gave the studios the finger, then are surprised that the studios took their ball and went elsewhere.

throwaway2037 | parent
For those unaware, TV and film unions in Los Angeles are incredibly powerful. As a result, people who work in TV and film jobs are paid far above median wages in Los Angeles. Also, I doubt that overseas staff working on TV and film sets are paid the same level as Los Angeles. If anything, LA studios are repeating the same story that we saw in the 1990s and 2000s with US manufacturing: Move it somewhere else where wages are very low, e.g., China or Mexico.

Also, I see this anti-union sentiment a lot on HackerNews: Whenever unions strike, there is near universal rejection as a strategy. The anti-union sentiment on HN is tiring, especially from the US and UK. Those big strikes in Los Angeles resulted in large pay increases and/or expansion of territory (better payouts for streaming, etc.) for those union members. In short, it worked.

alex43578 | root | parent
"It worked" for those in the union, for a bit, but the article itself shows 30% declines since 2022. If you're still working under the new, even-more-lavish contracts, I'm sure you're happy. If you're in that 30% now working as a barista or DoorDash driver, did the union work for you?

It's akin to the auto worker's unions, but without the same degree of government backstopping for the industry. The auto workers unions are an anchor around the necks of the auto industry, while government bailout dollars are a lifejacket - it's clear California (and more broadly the US) doesn't see the same need to subsidize the unions in TV and film.