In 2018, a customer secretly photographed Geoffrey Owens best known for playing Elvin on the Cosby Show working at a Trader Joe's in Clifton, New Jersey, and the images were published online in an attempt to "job-shame" him. Instead, he was able to get more work as an actor because of it.

[u/AdSpecialist6598]

He went on to explain that most actors and indeed most entertainers are gig workers. For every a-lister many other actors work gig to gig and having steady work and a steady income that pays well is really hard because the field is so unpredictable. And many actors including many well know actors and artists have to have a secondary source of regular income between gigs and for most working entertainers it means getting a regular job and taking whatever roles you can get.

[u/Ok-Classroom5548]

That’s exactly how healthcare works for all US Americans…you stop working and you lose your healthcare because it is tied to your job. 

The healthcare network is separate and can be accessed at open enrollment and when you lose your healthcare, and cost is based on income. 

Actors are just like us! (Joke)

[u/Electronic-Fix-4655 → u/Ok-Classroom5548]

Yep. We need work reform. Makes zero sense all countries at World Cup managed a healthcare system only the US couldn’t do. Need to get rid of corporate lobbying

[u/curiousleen → u/Electronic-Fix-4655]

The problem isn’t that the US CANNOT do it. The problem is that half of Americans believe we shouldn’t, because of politics and profits.

[u/Playful_Assistance89 → u/curiousleen]

(R) here. Oh, we think the systems broken, too. Its just that we don't like your ideas to fix it. Just like you don't like ours. Until we agree, it'll remain broken.

[u/Nerdy2Sidez → u/Ok-Classroom5548]

Just for clarity’s sake, that is how healthcare works for most Americans, not all. You can have health insurance that is not tied to an employer. It’s just that it’ll often be more expensive since big companies get massive discounts. There are also other options like Affordable Care Act/Obamacare plans that are not tied to an employer.

[u/Interesting-Case2526 → u/Nerdy2Sidez]

I know a guy on medicare and he doesnt pay for anything, basically. He got like 2 root canals, 2 crown replacements, and several visits to urgent care for different things. Didnt pay a single dime. His only cost was meds, but even then it was less than $100 total.

[u/Puzzleheaded-Web446 → u/Ok-Classroom5548]

It actually pisses me off when Actors complain about losing SAG Health Insurance because in my mind im just like "Welcome to being American, this what you get for electing Reagen in the 80s"

[u/WestCoastBestCoast01 → u/Puzzleheaded-Web446]

You think union laborers in Los Angeles and New York City are the people holding us back from universal healthcare?

[u/Puzzleheaded-Web446 → u/WestCoastBestCoast01]

I think actors complaining about about their unions rights is less about union rights and more about their priviledges as actors.

[u/jittery_raccoon → u/Puzzleheaded-Web446]

Yep. It's gig work. I could also do gig work and hope I keep getting paid and not have to answer to work inbetween gigs

[u/SuddenAvocado → u/Puzzleheaded-Web446]

They are union workers and they have a huge platform to bring these issues to light. Speaking on it is not "complaining".

[u/Puzzleheaded-Web446 → u/SuddenAvocado]

they only bring their issues to light, not everyone elses.

[u/Witty-Revolution8742 → u/Puzzleheaded-Web446]

Why are you lumping so many people into a category?   This is nonsense.  Some of our best spokespeople are actors for good causes. 

[u/Rob71322 → u/Puzzleheaded-Web446]

That's what interest groups like unions typically do. They represent THEIR members. That's why people band together in associations like that in the first place because they realize that gives them strength when negotiating with an employer.

[u/Momik → u/Puzzleheaded-Web446]

That’s what unions do! In a lot of cases union workers aren’t allowed by law to fight for anyone else’s rights, just their own. I ran into this as an editor while my newsroom was unionizing—we were forming a local, but by law couldn’t negotiate on behalf of our low-wage interns because they were in a different employment category. And it’s honestly a dumb boss’s law that workers fought against (Taft-Hartley Act, 1947) because it cut down on the solidarity unions try to build.

SAG may work a little differently, but a union will fight for its workers first. Sometimes that’s a matter of law, sometimes it’s just good strategy.

[u/contractorskid → u/Puzzleheaded-Web446]

If every single actor in the US had voted for his opponent in 1980, Reagan still would have won.

[u/Puzzleheaded-Web446 → u/contractorskid]

Reagen got into Politics by first getting elected as President of the Actors Guild. He then used his Presidency of the United States to tear down Union rights for everyone else.

[u/Rob71322 → u/Puzzleheaded-Web446]

You're missing a few steps in your history. True Reagan did those things as President, but it wasn't because he was also president of the screen actors guild. That's not why he was elected in 1980.

[u/contractorskid → u/Puzzleheaded-Web446]

Over 20 years before he was elected president. And you blamed them specifically for electing him in 1980.

[u/Momik → u/Puzzleheaded-Web446]

It’s still horrible in any context. Tying health care access to employment is wildly stupid and sets up a deeply unequal power dynamic (in workplace terms and class terms). You’re right about Reagan but nobody deserves this kind of instability.