There’s power in a union! One question I’ve always had is, why do entertainment industry unions like SAG and WGA call themselves “guilds” instead of “unions”?
From what I gather, technically it’s due to them being independent contractors rather than employees. So for example the Stage Employees union IATSE is more like an union because the workers are employed under their specific employers, while writers and actors jump around from studio to studio and their collective bargaining needs to take that into account. But in practice it’s more of a historical thing and they’re usually called a union.
There’s power in a union! One question I’ve always had is, why do entertainment industry unions like SAG and WGA call themselves “guilds” instead of “unions”?
They’re made up of theater kids
From what I gather, technically it’s due to them being independent contractors rather than employees. So for example the Stage Employees union IATSE is more like an union because the workers are employed under their specific employers, while writers and actors jump around from studio to studio and their collective bargaining needs to take that into account. But in practice it’s more of a historical thing and they’re usually called a union.