Fair Pay in the Workplace

The podcast discusses the issue of fair pay for writers, women's soccer players, and teachers. The Actors and Writers Guild of America are on strike, causing production of TV shows and movies to stop. The guests and hosts believe that these individuals deserve better pay for the work they do, as they entertain people worldwide. They also mention that other industries, such as artists and public education, also suffer from underfunding and low pay. The lack of representation and inclusion for people with disabilities is also brought up as a problem that needs to be addressed. This is What the World Needs Now, a podcast from the teens of Middletown, Rhode Island. Today's topic is fair pay for the writers, women's soccer players, and teachers. Hi, I'm Clay. I'm Maddie. And we're here with our guest, Elena Vasquez, to talk about better pay for the Actors and Writers Guild of America. The Actors Guild went on strike yesterday, the 13th, for the first time in 60 years, so around Vietnam era, which is a huge thing. Yeah, it's a big deal for them. It basically stops production of almost all TV, movies, media, because the Writers Guild is also on strike as of a couple months ago, I think. Yeah. Before May, at least. Yeah, before the Tony's. Oh, yeah. People were only for badges. Yeah. It was also, I remember Rick Riordan said he was technically also on strike because he's part of the Writers Guild. Yeah. When we went to the Sun and the Star tour, because of the Percy Jackson show, he's technically part of the Writers Guild of America. Yeah. Because they wrote the script. Yeah, Elena, what are your thoughts on the equal pay? It's definitely something like, they just need to get it sorted out and stuff, because they definitely deserve more pay for all of the work that they do and stuff, given that they entertain a lot of the world. Even if it's just America, a bunch of people watch stuff from England and Australia, or if they can speak English, they'll watch stuff from there. And also, even things that are produced by American actors and writers is also translated into other languages often. Yeah. So, it's pretty much watched around the globe, so it affects a lot. Yeah. I did see some research, and it doesn't affect theater media, it doesn't affect Broadway or anything, because they're a different association. So, if that association went on strike, then Broadway would be shut down, but just because Agsat is on strike, Broadway really isn't affected. I think it's like, at this point, why not pay them more? Yeah. Like, the whole industry is basically shut down, and they're still like, oh no, it really... The only thing that isn't on strike right now is production, like the producers. Even they are, because oftentimes, producers also write the script. They do a lot. Producers do a lot of work. Everything. He's on strike too, because he produces a lot of stuff, and he's written. Yeah. He's written stuff. He's acted in stuff. Yeah, he's also in the actor's guild. He's just everywhere. My guy gets around in the media. Yeah. And the things, like the companies that they work for, they have a lot of money, and stuff. Maddie just broke her lanyard. You totally broke it. I'll get you one later. Oh my god. Yeah. It's like, not fair, because they pretty much... Together, the actors and writers guild make up almost the entirety of the production of movies and TVs. They almost make up the entirety of the industry. Yeah. So the industry is pretty much shut down right now. Yeah, and it's not like some of these, especially if the bigger companies make a lot of money, can't spare a few dollars. It's like Disney is definitely not low on cash. Yeah. If you think about it, they're making thousands of dollars from movie releases, and also at least $7. It might even be higher now for Disney Plus, a subscription. And they also have the parks. Yeah. They have Disneyland, and then Disney World, which is like four parks. And then they also have Disney World Paris, and Beijing, and whatever. Yeah. I don't know if there's one in Beijing, but... They have so many sources of income, and so much money to spare. And they pretty much make up the media industry, if we're being honest. They own everything. Yeah, Marvel, Pixar. They've owned Pixar for a while, but they do, like, the Star Wars movies. And Marvel, if I remember. Lucasfilms, like Marvel. National Geographic. 20th Century Fox. What else? FX. I'm pretty sure they own FX, because there's Marvel movies on FX often. Their only rival right now is Hallmark. Oh, yeah, Hallmark. Hallmark is an interesting thing. Yeah. Yeah. Also, 60 years. Like, 60 years they haven't gone on strike. Yeah. And that's the Vietnam War. So if you think about it, they may have not gone on strike. I'm not sure. That was Civil Rights Movement, too. Oh, yeah. Civil Rights in the Vietnam War era. Yeah. I feel like they just deserve better, you know? Yeah. I feel like when they went on strike 60 years ago, it was probably either because they opposed the war. Like, it probably had nothing... It may have had stuff... It probably had stuff to do with pay, also. Or just, like, equal rights in general. Or equal rights in general, yeah. Or a different practice. It's like... Yeah. They should be paid more, because they make up the entire entertainment industry at this point. And there's, like... There's, like, different kinds of media, too, that, like, don't get as much pay as they should. Like, Elena was talking to us earlier about artists. Yeah. Who just... Yeah, they don't get paid as much as they should. No, unless they're, like... Like, unless their art is valued, like, really highly, because either they're dead... Or in fango. You know, like, Picasso or... Or they're just people... Or they got to the right crowd of people who were willing to pay a lot for that kind of art. Yeah. Like, otherwise, there's always, like, starving artists and stuff. It's a really popular saying, because they get paid a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Also... And it's not even just in, like, entertainment. It's also in, like, everyday life. Like, teachers are severely underpaid. Yeah. And that's just really stupid. Which is really... Because they deal with children all day. And who wants to do that? Because there's so much, like, just... And they're paid, like, very little. But also, a lot of jobs that are, like, paid by the state, like, are state-run. So, like, libraries and, like, other things like that are also paid very little. The libraries don't get much. Like, even this podcast, it's a grant, which is, like, we're so lucky to have it. Yeah. Yeah. They don't get enough funding. Also, schools don't get enough funding often. The one we go to is the one with air conditioning. Yeah. The whole district. The high school doesn't have air conditioning. And there's, like... And it's just because it's, like, the biggest school in the district. Like, our schools are having to let go of some of the teachers. Yeah. Which is a real problem. They literally let go. They let go about 13 teachers this year. Mm-hmm. Teachers and school librarians are included in that. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And, usually, these... I know, especially in our district, it's usually for, like, sports. And they're also, like, destroying the arts in public education. Yeah. Because it was already really underfunded, but now it's even less underfunded. Yeah. My friend. I remember our art teacher was talking about, like, how they needed to, like, keep the stuff that they had and stuff. Like, you don't want to take more than you need. Yeah. Because they only have that until there's more money. Yeah. We have to be, like, really careful with what we use. Yeah. Which is also a problem for, like, we were... All three of us were in art club this year. Yeah. And it was... It's just a shame that... It was a very popular club, though. Mm-hmm. Like, programs like that are kind of in trouble, which is sad. Like, very underfunded. Yeah. But it's very... It was a very popular club. Like, we had more than we were supposed to in it. Yeah. And there were still people who wanted to sign up. Mm-hmm. And there are also clubs that the librarian ran, but won't be run anymore, I'm assuming, because she got laid off. Like, we had the D&D club. Mm-hmm. A lot of people. There was, like, a game. Yeah. There were two groups. Yeah. There were so many people, they had to make two groups. And then there was also, like, a game club that she also ran, which was pretty popular. Yeah. That will probably now be ended. Yeah. They also might be losing accreditation, I know, for the Middletown, which is really not a good thing. Yeah. It's not fair for anyone, really. Yeah. And also, they laid off, I think... It was, like, around 13 to 14 teachers this year. Yeah. And the high school's librarian will now be working part-time at the high school and part-time at the middle school because they laid off our librarian. Mm-hmm. Just because they don't have enough money for the schools. The sports are also getting, like, so much money. Yeah. Which is fine to a degree, you know? Like, it's good to have opportunities for people who are into sports, but it's also important to have opportunities for other people. People who aren't into sports. Like, art, once again, is severely underfunded. Especially, like, band and chorus. Yeah. It's a struggle to get to the festivals, I know. Yeah. The high school teacher, the... Mr. Stadser? No, the... Or Ms. Falloncourt? Yeah, Ms. Falloncourt. She's had to come out of... Ms. Stadser. Ms. Stadser. Great. She had to come out of retirement just so that they could have... For this year. Yeah, just for this year. Because Mr. Stadser was running... He would have been running the entirety of the music program for the high school. Because we don't have enough teachers as it is. Yeah. For the music program, especially. Yeah. Also, talk about, like, discrimination against specific jobs, but also against, like, minorities. Like, it's disability month. It's, like, Disability Pride Month this month. And no one promotes it. Like, no one. There's nothing about that that you see in, like, the media or anything. Like, overall, the world in general just needs to learn to be more accessible and inclusive for everyone. Yeah. There's, like... I've come across so little media representation of people with disabilities. It's insane. Like, something like autism, it's done so poorly. Yeah. It's, like, it's done, but it's done, like, so badly that it's not even accurate anymore. Mm-hmm. And it's sad, because there are so many people that are on the spectrum, which, yeah. Or just are diverse in gender, even. I know, like, OCD is another thing that, like, gets bad representation in media because they think you should be perfect, but you're not. It's not that. Not at all. Charlie from Heart Stopper. Yeah. He has OCD, but it's in a very different way. He has eating disorders. Mm-hmm. They go hand-in-hand. His anorexia and that, but at least... Mm-hmm. But it's not always like that, especially for, like, eating disorders. They usually can come hand-in-hand, but they're not always like that. Yeah. Another thing that's, like, very, very poorly represented is a dissociative identity disorder. Yeah. Because they're normally made out to be, like, the villain because they, like, switch personalities, like, so often. Not just, like... It's, like, not what it is. Yeah. More often than not, they're the victim because it's caused by, like, childhood trauma that was so severe that your brain just kind of, like, detached itself. Mm-hmm. And making a whole, like, disorder into being, like, villainy is just not right. Mm-hmm. It just supports a whole view that it's not good. Yeah. It's not even just, like, misrepresentation of, like, disability, but also, like, of race and, like, pride. Or not pride, like, LGBTQ is also underrepresented. Mm-hmm. Underrepresented often times in media, especially, like, male bisexual characters are almost in nothing. Like, there's barely any in the media. Yeah. In any media. And same goes for, like, some races. Like, Chinese is very underrepresented in media, I've noticed. Yeah. Or, like, just Asian in general. Yeah. Representation is very low. Mm-hmm. Roma, too, is, like, I can't think of anything in Roma, which is kind of sad. Yeah. It's a very interesting history. Mm-hmm. And it's, like, yeah, I think if people just learned stuff, like, basic stuff about different things, then it'd be so much easier to be accepting and, you know, like, with representation in media, it's important to educate, but it's not happening as much as it should. Inclusivity, because I know not all countries are really good at including people or being inclusive. Like, in a lot of countries, it's illegal to be in the LGBTQ family or illegal to, like, it's just there's a lot of laws against different minorities in a lot of different countries, especially in, like, the Middle East and also, like, Africa and, like, sometimes West or Eastern Europe is sometimes very, there are a lot of weird laws against minorities. Mm-hmm. Especially, like, right now in the U.S., like, there's all the bills being passed and, you know. Yeah. It's just not good. People just need to be better educated, which is, yeah, media can really help with that. You can't be better educated if you're getting rid of all the teachers. Yeah. Exactly. It's all a big circle. Also, Hungary is currently suing a publishing company, which is Graphics, which is part of Scholastic for, so basically in Hungary, it is illegal to promote being homosexual to minors, and so they're trying to sue Graphics, which is part of Scholastic, for promoting it with Hard Stopper, which is, like, it's just plain stupid. It's just representation. It's not, like, promoting being gay. Yeah. Yeah. It's true. It's an interesting lawsuit, but it's just a whole country teaming up to sue a book publishing company that is also probably a multi-billion dollar company. And we know that it's not like every citizen in Hungary believes that, like, homosexuality shouldn't be represented, but it's, like... Their government dictates that it's illegal. Yeah. There's a lot of lawsuits that are going on about, or not lawsuits, but, like, strikes and lawsuits that are going on about, like, pay and also inclusivity right now, which is, like, something that shouldn't be happening this long in the future. It's, like, it's 2023. People shouldn't be lawsuits against, like, non-equal pay for, like, females, writers, like, actors. And it was the, like, going on strike thing that they finally did it. Yeah. Because it's been going on for years now. Yeah. Yeah. And the fact that, like, women are still not getting paid equally. It's, like, I only found that out, like, a few months ago, and it makes me so angry. The pay gap is still a huge problem. And I know the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team... had a lawsuit against that recently. Yeah. In the recent three years, where they were going to the actual United States Soccer Federation and, like, basically suing their bosses for not paying them equally as the men, when they do better than the men in competitions. Like, they have won, I believe it's the last three FIFA World Cups, and the men have not won one in years, for the U.S. at least. Yet they're still paid a significant amount less. I remember in ELA this year, our teacher, she's amazing. She went over, like, during Women's History Month, she went over, like, stuff like representation for women and stuff, and she talked about the wage gap. And some of the boys in class tried to, like, she pulled up the example of the Women's Soccer Team, and some of the boys in class tried to argue that, well, the Men's Soccer Team brings in more fans, and she kept asking, why? But they don't. And they didn't have an answer, because it's... I'll say that they don't, because the Women's Soccer Team do have a large amount of fans. Like, their games are viewed very much, other than the ones that are, like, 3 in the morning. Like, the ones that are midday or afternoon are very, very popular and do bring in a lot of viewers. And also, they do progress better in these World Cups and other competitions than the Men's Team. And that's not saying that men just aren't as good as women. We're not saying that. We're saying that they should be equal. Yeah. Especially when they deserve to be equal. I know there's a good, in the context of the soccer team, in the U.S. Women's Soccer Team, there's a really great documentary called LFG on Max, or HBO Max, I believe is what it's on. I'm not sure what you're talking about, but you can continue with it. Yeah, it's on HBO Max. I watched it. It's really good. And it just talks about, basically, their lawsuit against the United States Soccer Federation for equal pay, which I don't, I'm not sure if they won it. I haven't seen if they did. I think it's still ongoing, but I could be wrong. I have a hard time keeping up with news. Yeah. There's just so much going on in the world that it's hard to keep track of. But there are a lot of good sources, and if you are looking for more information on this, make sure you find accurate sources that are creditable. So usually that has .org, or .net, or .edu, or just a credible news outlet, or a credible news company. CNN. CNN, yeah. I have no idea why they got rid of Carl Azuz. I don't know. Maybe he just quit. Who knows? There is probably some reason. It's also, it's not even like it's, you sent one time, there was like, you saw an article that was like, the gender gap wouldn't end until like 2135 or something. It was like 2124. There was like a study that showed, I don't remember what it was, so don't take my word for it. It was like at least 100 years into the future. You can probably look it up. Which, and that's just their estimation, so that might not be like true. Yeah. Unless people do something about it. Which isn't really happening right now. Yeah. So yeah, there's a lot of strikes and lawsuits and protests happening right now against pay, and also just like, what's it called? Like inclusivity. There's a lot of protests about that happening right now. Yeah. But it's not like those are the only issues in the world right now, because there are other ones, but those are just some of the largest ones that are happening currently. Yeah. And I think just even taking some of the issues step by step, like making a podcast and just informing even like, A couple people. Yeah, like your local people, you know. It's helpful. So yeah, this episode I guess has been more about just equal pay in general, more than like the Actors and Writers Guild, which is good. They do deserve more pay, because they are a huge part of society in general. And it's not like it's just affecting the United States and the United States territories. It's affecting the entire world, because so much media, as in like movies and stuff, is produced in the U.S. Marvel. Yeah, a lot of the huge companies. Like Disney is part of that group, and then Actors Guild and Actors Guild. And then also going back to Disney, there's like a bunch of countries that like censor, surround parts of like Disney or Toy Story movies. Or just don't include it. Or just don't show the movies at all. Like the movies are illegal to watch in their countries. And it's like, it's not even about like with the equal, like the better pay for the actors and writers. It's not even like, we could go without TV. Our world could go without TV. That's not the problem. The problem is that this is their, yeah. They have to even go on strike. This is like these people, it's their passion. It's their job. It's what they do for a living. And they can't even get good pay for it. It's just not fair, and it's not right. It's also like a huge, it's not needed, but it's a huge part of the American economy. It is. So like, they deserve to be paid better, but they are deeply underpaid. I'm surprised like people who do animation haven't gone on strike, because that takes forever. Oh my gosh. To do animation. And it takes a lot of training too. Yeah. I don't know how they're getting paid, but I know it's an interesting issue. Everything else. I'm sure that, I don't remember what the actors bill for Broadway is, but I'm sure Broadway hasn't gone on strike. I'm sure it's because they don't want to shut down again. But they are also like deeply underpaid actors. I think a lot of people just, like in this moment in time, are not getting as paid as much as they should be. Yeah. Thanks for listening to this episode of What the World Needs Now. An episode of equal pay and representation in media. ♪♪♪