Writers strikes, NHS strikes, teacher strikes and more: What do they have in common?

Hello and happy Wednesday! This is our first blog post after the welcome post last week and we are planning to bring a new blog post out every Wednesday.

This week we see the continuation of the writers strikes in Hollywood and the NHS and train strikes in the UK. Other sectors, such as teaching (UK), participated in various strikes this year - and may be coming to a pay rise agreement currently.

Whether or not you support strike action it is hard to argue against the fact that in many of these industries the pay is often not enough to cover basic necessities such as heating and food, and the working conditions can be poor and even traumatic. In this article I want to look at what these industries have in common, how we've ended up here, and how our society needs to change for the future.

(Please note that this is an opinion piece and a philosophical pondering of our society in order to continue an important conversation. Let me know in the comments if you have anything to add or argue, but be kind when doing so!)

What does the NHS have in common with the creative industries?

Some may think that a doctor and a writer could not have less in common. While one was studying the sciences at school the other was daydreaming and coming up with stories. This may be true practically speaking, however, both of these jobs require creativity, problem solving and, perhaps above all, passion.

As most people are probably aware, from visiting a hospital at some point, the working conditions of most of our hospitals are currently awful. Health workers are being overworked and often verbally abused by frustrated patients. The pay, compared to the hours work, often ends up at just above minimum wage by some reconning, or between £20-£30. Whichever pay is more accurate, there are far less stressful ways to earn the same money.

Writers are often in an even more precarious position when it comes to pay. In America, writers are working at minimum wage regardless of experience, due to the takeover of streaming. Many companies are treat writing like a production line with little regard for the people doing the writing.

When a person has passion, and the world appreciates what they do, those who have the power to will try to make them pay for it.

So with these working conditions and wages that leave many without basic necessities like heating or food, why would writers, healthcare professionals or teachers get into these professions?

The answer is passion and necessity. People in these professions have a desire to help people, provide entertainment and share wisdom so that everyone in society can have a happier life. All of these professions are absolutely necessary to our world and our health and impossible to imagine a world without.

All too often, when a person has passion, and the world appreciates what they do, those who have the power to will try to make them pay for it.

Rishi Sunak, current UK PM, wants the public to believe that maths is needed while the arts can be underfunded. However, I don't know many people who would choose to read maths problems of an evening over watching a movie, reading a fiction book, listening to music, going to the theatre.... all of those so-called 'pointless' skills.

Why are all of these careers so underfunded?

It can often seem like the gremlins in power are simply haters of the arts, or out of touch with reality, when it comes to underfunding the jobs that are the backbone of our society. Production companies that treat creative workers so badly don't seem to understand the consequences of their greed either.

But what has made those in power think it's okay to underpay?

This, again, comes back to passion. If there are enough people who want to do a meaningful, satisfying job, then greed takes over in the mind of people in charge. They may often try and argue that the trade-off of money for passion is a worthwhile one. Unfortunately though, passion doesn't feed us or pay the bills.

Many of these careers have also had a long history of being reserved for the upper classes. Those with enough money and free time from their heritage to pursue their dreams without having to think so much about eating (they may also not even have to think about cooking or cleaning too). This makes satisfying jobs seem like a luxury that one should not pursue unless they can afford it. On the other end of the spectrum, many necessary jobs are seen as unskilled labour jobs for the working class and therefore also unpaid.

These are both sounding like great excuses to underpay the majority of society...

For the humble writer it can be hard to hear that £50,000 will be spent on playing with the idea of producing a TV show that may never air, but a £4000 annual pay rise is out of the question. The question of pay rises rarely seems to be so much about the money that these companies have, or a negative impact on inflation that the government worries about. Rather, the indignation of those with less perhaps less passion, or 'glory' for their jobs shy at allowing those workers, who are integral to a happy society, to live well and (god forbid) enjoy their work.

In moving forward we need to tackle the idea of 'profit' as a society. The amount of money big corporations and CEO's are taking is meaningless - to them. The individuals earning eye-watering salaries can't possible think of much more to spend their money on. It has also been long understood that after a certain point happiness flatlines in correlation to earnings - though there is a debate on when this happens.

In my humble opinion, rather than continually chasing profit, many richer people, and companies, should share more, work less, find community and get some hobbies. It might be a simplistic view but all of these things might breed a little more empathy and a little more wealth equality.

Plus a lot more happiness and life satisfaction for all involved.

This has been an culmination of my own take on some of the ideas I've read about in recent articles - please see the hyperlinks so some of these if you wish to find out more!

I hope you've enjoyed reading and let me know if I've missed anything or if you have anything to add to the ideas discussed.

Have a lovely week,

Sarah x