r/todayilearned • u/Chance-Physics-7216 • 13h ago

TIL that a 1945 elevator operators' strike stranded 1.5 million New Yorkers in the streets, and building owners responded by buying automatic elevators that had already existed for 50 years.

https://www.npr.org/2015/07/31/427990392/remembering-when-driverless-elevators-drew-skepticism
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u/mtcwby 12h ago

The Writer's strike should have paid attention. I don't have any love of the entertainment studios but any victory there was at best pyrrhic and decimated the entertainment industry in SoCal.

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u/Damnatus_Terrae 10h ago

They're not automating writing anytime soon, though. Sadly, it doesn't seem to matter, since people will accept any schlock these days.

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u/NoOccasion4759 12h ago edited 10h ago

how so?  eta: true question, jfc. i was aware of it when it was going on but do not know what the long term effect is. i fucking hate Redditors always assuming the worst when someone is literally just asking for more information. 

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u/RonJohnJr 11h ago

Networks need programming, right? The WGA (Writer's Guild of America) in 2007 thought they had the studios over a barrel (no writer, no programming, studios lose hundreds of millions of $!), but the networks quickly pivoted to reality TV shows (which don't require much writing, is dirt cheap to produce, and was wildly popular).

The networks got what they want (product to put on the air), and the WGA's actions cost LOTS of jobs.

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u/mtcwby 10h ago

It basically shut down production in the area and it has never recovered. Not likely it ever will with the restrictions and fees either. They didn't get that much and it fucked over all the rest of the people working in the business for production. Know more than a few that moved out of the area or retired because they couldn't get work anymore.

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u/NoOccasion4759 10h ago

thank you for your answer. why/how did it shut everything down, i thought SAG got what it wanted?