[stephanheijl]

> Much too often, we are overworked and underpaid. We are in what people call a “passion industry,” one that ultimately capitalizes on our love of stories to excuse low wages and a “you better be grateful to this opportunity” attitude. We wish it was different. We’re not quite sure how to make it different.

The author identifies the situation completely accurately and is also able to see that they have no leverage whatsoever to make Harper Collins change their behavior. The fact is that doing a job that you are absolutely passionate about is something to be grateful for, and also something that is in high demand. Combined with the fact that the exact skill set required for this kind of work is currently possessed by a surplus of workers means that any position left by a striker will be rapidly fulfilled by a passionate scab.

I have no doubt that publishers will also readily take advantage of AI to make the pool of available jobs even shallower, which will decrease the viability of this movement even more.