It’s so wild that several indie podcast creators were like “hey, we keep hearing from people in this industry that we care incredibly deeply about that they’re being treated poorly and having issues at a fairly sizable production company, and we wanted to help share their stories in hopes of building a better, healthier, more equitable, more sustainable industry,” then spent a bunch of time gathering stories, verifying information, and used their own personal time to write about it and people... came for them?? like????
People deserve good working conditions!! That should not be debatable!!!
Being shown the ways you’ve harmed others and the ways in which you can do better and do right by people can be difficult to hear, hard to stomach, and it can trigger defensiveness, but it’s a gift. It’s an opportunity to rise to the challenge. I can be a stubborn, defensive-ass bitch and so I get that initial gut response to be defensive (is this my Aries sun? only child syndrome?). But companies, bosses, and people with privilege and/or power must learn to take a breath, pause, and not only be open to honest critique but genuinely listen to it. It means that people want you to do better, and often times it means that they believe you can and want to see you succeed in doing so.
It’s really, really hard and scary to come forward and talk about how you’ve been treated at a workplace, especially a current one. It’s also a huge risk. We’re all living in this capitalist system where we must labor to put a roof over our head, to pay for healthcare, food, and other necessities. Our survival is directly tied to work, including current and potential jobs, side hustles, and often times our professional relationships. This is *especially* true for trans and queer folks, Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, disabled folks, undocumented folks, women, everyone who faces discrimination, everyone at those intersections, all of us who experience wage gaps and who have to fight for basic respect in workplaces not built for us.
Listen to workers when they come forward! Stand with workers when they ask for safety, security, and better treatment because their struggle is your struggle is our struggle.
