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Forum - View topicNEWS: SAG-AFTRA Members Vote to Authorize Strike Against Video Game Companies
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Wyvern
 Posts: 1598 |
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Boom! Strike season never ends!
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MFrontier
Posts: 13764 |
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I remember hearing inklings we were due another video game voice acting strike.
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mdo7
 Posts: 6377 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
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Well this is what I know so far in the news:
-WGA end their strike after reaching a deal AMPTP/Hollywood studios -The SAG-AFTRA strike continue against AMPTP/Hollywood and now include authorizing strike against video game companies -As we saw last week, we already saw United Auto Workers has expanded their strikes against the big 3. I don't know what other strike may happen other then the one I listed above. I mean there was already a strike at higher education like for example, University of California late of last year, same thing happened at a Washington state university where researchers and post-doc students went on a strike, & Rutgers University that happened back in April. This year and late of last year is the year of the union strike, we don't know what other strike(s) may happen in the US or elsewhere. I wouldn't be surprised if the anime industry face a strike in Japan given these reports: New York Times report on anime's animator being underpay and living in poverty Animator Dorm Project: "About 90% of Animators Quit Their Jobs Within 3 Years" In-Between Animators Share Stories of Low Wages, Poor Conditions Animator in Japan Reveals Their 1st Year Earnings In the Industry I wouldn't be surprised if a strike in Japan's animation industry would happen, I would gladly support such a strike given whatever we known about animators in Japan being underpaid. |
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AiddonValentine
 Posts: 2342 |
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Labor summer going into labor fall now. I say go for it. Activision, Disney, EA, Epic, and WB are a bunch of predatory companies that need to pay their fair share.
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Squidw
Posts: 2 |
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we love to see labor movements, hope this trend continues
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whiskeyii
 Posts: 2268 |
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For better or worse, I’ve heard that protesting is generally seen as an act of counterculture in Japan, which is why only the truly “weirdest of the weird” like Anno and Miyazaki have a history of protesting (might be wrong about Anno, I am 100% positive about Miyazaki.) That said, anime is already considered a “fringe” industry alongside video games (in Japan), so who knows? Personally, my money is on airline workers or air traffic control folks. Even better if it’s both; they’re both clearly overworked and underpaid. |
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mdo7
Posts: 6377 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
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How is anime fringe given that it's a big industry and the fact it's already mainstream in the US, Japan, and every part of the world? Given that Japanese MSM news has also reported on what's going on in the US which include our strikes in the USA, I don't think people in Japan are ignorant. Also, strikes in Japan aren't new, there's two that happened recently: A big private equity deal sparks a rare worker strike in Japan (this happened last month) Workers stage Japan's first strike in decades over department store sale (Also happened last month, South Morning China Post on Youtube has this report) Also, The Japan Times has this article warning Japan's film industry (which could include anime industry) that the Hollywood WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes is a wake up call for their industry in Japan, and I have to assume this article may apply to the anime and manga industry too. So yes, if these strikes I mentioned above can happened in Japan, then a strike in Japan's anime and manga industry could happen, the only quesion is: when will it happened? |
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residentgrigo
 Posts: 2586 Location: Germany |
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The big publishers are even scummier than Hollywood. |
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encrypted12345
Posts: 724 |
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This seems kind of fruitless. It's way easier to make a videogame without dedicated writers and voice actors than it is to make a movie under the same conditions. If anything, the lack of voices would make download times faster.
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SilverTalon01
Posts: 2417 |
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I support people demanding wages appropriate for the value of the work they do, but this whole protections against AI is ridiculous. I'm sure every single working person would love a written guarantee that AI won't replace their jobs, but that isn't going to happen. AI will remove the need for a lot of jobs. Writing and acting doesn't deserve some special exemption.
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AiddonValentine
Posts: 2342 |
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First, the studios being struck aren't small indie studios, we're talking about big names like Activision and EA who flaunt how much they've spent on VO and how many hours of voice acting there is. Second, bloated file sizes aren't on the actors, those are on the studios who fail to compress properly for various reasons. Heck, a lot of file bloat is more from 4K textures than audio. |
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lossthief
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 1440 |
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Seems like kind of a crab-in-a-bucket logic here. Yes, corporations and executives are always eager to automate things so they can pay as few workers as possible. Doesn't mean that's something anyone should accept, and if workers have the collective bargaining power to prevent that, more power to them. |
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whiskeyii
Posts: 2268 |
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I don't mean that anime as a product is fringe, I mean that working in the anime industry is considered fringe compared to being a "regular" businessman/salaryman or other kind of office worker in Japan. Also, even the articles you cited use words like "rare" or "first strike in decades" in their own titles to describe Japan's domestic strikes. I'm not saying an animator-based strike can't happen, I'm just pointing out that it's very, very unlikely given Japan's cultural relationship with strikes and protests in contrast with, say, the US, where such actions are a little less uncommon. |
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flamemasterelan
Posts: 496 |
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No. Writing and acting do deserve a special exemption. Because they're creative fields built around communication that people are lining up around the world for. We shouldn't be automating them just because a corporation wants to save a few bucks while they pump out mindless content for you to consume. |
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mdo7
Posts: 6377 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
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Labor unions has existed in Japan since 1945, and yes I'm aware that anime industry doesn't seem to have any labor unions despite all other industries in Japan do have labor unions (seiyus/voice actors & screenwriters that worked on anime do have unions but not animators) . But given these incidents of animator being overworked, and paid so little: Answerman from 2016: Is Working To Death Really A Thing In Japan? Government Office Cites Overwork in Suicide of A-1 Pictures Staff Member Former Manga Assistant Requests Unreceived Overtime Pay to Improve Industry Kemurikusa Director Tatsuki Reveals Production Has Kept Him from Home for Nearly a Year I'm sure there are other incidents (and something similar) that happened in Japan for the last probably 10 years. I was reading this Cartoon Brew article about why animators in Japan don't have labor unions when voice actors and screenwriters in Japan (the same voice actors & screenwriters that are involved in anime) have unions. To quote the article:
I mean let me ask you a question: If voice actors/seiyus & screenwriters who worked on anime are able to unionized, then how are animators and anime studios aren't allowed to unionize??? Here's another question: How come voice actors and screenwriters in Japan don't go on strike on behalf of animators given the low pay, hostile environment that animators in Japan faced?? I mean do animators who worked on anime not ask themselves these same questions? I'm asking the questions when it comes to voice actors and screenwriters are able to have unions, and I expected animators to have asked themselves the same question like I brought up above. |
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