For those who’ve had a tough time maintaining with the newest on the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger, it’s as a result of it seems like day by day has a brand new growth. However beneath the authorized back-and-forth is a a lot larger query for our members: what occurs to freelancers when the businesses that rent them consolidate?
The proposed roughly $110 billion deal would mix two of Hollywood’s 5 main movie distributors and two main homeowners of cable networks. A coalition of 12 state attorneys common sued to dam the merger, alleging that diminished competitors would hurt employees, customers, and companies.
Final week, the attorneys common reached a proposed settlement with Paramount. The settlement contains vital employee and trade protections: a $47.5 million fund for employees affected by the merger, commitments round collective bargaining agreements, elevated home movie and tv manufacturing, and minimal theatrical-release necessities. The settlement remains to be topic to court docket approval, and out of doors teams have challenged it, so the merger’s remaining path stays unsettled.
Nonetheless, it appears possible the merger will transfer ahead, even when further concessions are made by Paramount.
There’s a essential hole on this collection of consequential occasions: impartial employees.
So, what does this imply for freelancers?
Freelancers are a essential a part of the leisure trade – from writers, to producers, editors, designers, photographers, and numerous different crew members. The proposed settlement doesn’t present comparable ensures round freelance work, charges, or contract phrases. And when firms consolidate, freelancers face a fundamental drawback: fewer potential patrons for his or her work.
Consolidation issues as a result of competitors impacts each customers and what they pay, however how employees retain management over their work. For impartial employees, having a number of firms competing for his or her expertise can have an effect on the place they discover work and the leverage they’ve to barter charges, contracts, and dealing situations. The New York Legal professional Basic’s lawsuit particularly alleged the merger would scale back competitors for employees and artists.
Freelancers can’t be an afterthought in choices that reshape complete industries.
The employees who create the movies, tv, journalism, and tradition that these firms revenue from more and more embody folks outdoors of conventional employment. Their pursuits deserve illustration when authorities and companies negotiate the way forward for these industries.
At Freelancers Union, we consider that impartial employees want a collective voice in these essential adjustments that reshape our financial system.
When companies consolidate, freelancers want collective energy, too.
