Entertainment Union Leaders Demonstrate Unity in Uncertain Time
Entertainment workplaces need more time and data to prepare and change the way show business works. “Here’s the reality: Because of the nature of the industry, arts and entertainment professionals may likely be some of the last workers able to return safely to their jobs,” said Liz Shuler, the AFL-CIO’s secretary-treasurer. “And when they do, they’re not going to be returning to ‘normal’; it’s going to be a very different approach to the industry. It’s going to change dramatically.” The entertainment industry was one of the first to be impacted by the public health measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus, but will likely be one of the last to recover, despite the much-emphasized contradictory truth about life in national quarantine: While entertainment workers are out of jobs, the public is relying on entertainment more than ever to keep them occupied in lockdown.