The spectacular recovery of the US economy and job shortages have suddenly reawakened the ardor for demands among workers who have been little spoiled in recent decades.

Actors raise their fists, but it’s not cinema. After 118 days on strike, Hollywood actors have won the battle. They got the deal they were looking for with the country’s major studios – Disney, Warner, Netflix, Universal. The CEOs of the four majors themselves came to the negotiating table. On Wednesday, November 8, they finally conceded to a pay rise of between 7 and 8% (the official figure has not been released), compensation for the use of their characters by artificial intelligence, and bonuses for successful films and series on streaming channels such as Netflix.

Studios were in a hurry to put an end to this widely-followed strike, which had already compromised Christmas releases and threatened the 2024 summer season. All the more so as this actors’ strike followed that of the screenwriters, who had put down their pencils this summer and reached an agreement at the end of September. "Perseverance pays off!" exclaimed Oscar-winning actress Jamie Lee Curtis on Instagram. She could have said "strikes pay off!" such is the number of industrial disputes in the country.

This kind of efficiency has not been seen in decades. On the same November 8, employees at Caesar hotels, casinos and restaurants in Las Vegas reached an agreement just days before their union voted to strike. Not to mention the massive conflict that shook the automotive industry in September and October, culminating on October 30 in a highly advantageous agreement for workers at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis (Chrysler).

They had all been preceded by the unions of the 340,000 UPS delivery drivers, who reached an agreement with management on July 25, a week before the start of a strike that promised to sow logistical chaos across the country. The spectacular recovery of the US economy and job shortages have suddenly reawakened the ardor for demands among workers who have been little spoiled in recent decades.

All the more so as the flourishing health of America’s major corporations has been a powerful argument in the multi-year negotiations, which began this year. UPS, for example, has seen its profits triple in 2021 and 2022, compared with pre-pandemic levels. More than $8 billion (€7.5 billion) has been returned to shareholders. No wonder employees are demanding their share. All the more so as they are encouraged to do so by President Joe Biden, who came in person to support the auto workers in Detroit. All the planets are aligned in a rare moment, one that won’t happen again soon.