Greater than 300 actors together with many huge names have signed a letter to SAG-AFTRA management urging them to take a tough line within the negotiations for a brand new movie and TV contract with the Alliance of Movement Image and Tv Producers.
“A strike brings incredible hardships to so many, and no one wants it,” reads the letter addressed to the SAG-AFTRA management and negotiating committee. “But we are prepared to strike if it comes to that. And we are concerned by the idea that SAG-AFTRA members may be ready to make sacrifices that leadership is not.”
Among the many letter’s boldface signatories are
Kevin Bacon, Quinta Brunson, Glenn Shut, David Duchovny, Chelsea Handler, Eva Longoria, Jennifer Lawrence, Bob Odenkirk, Mark Ruffalo, Meryl Streep, Rami Malek, Patton Oswalt, Sarah Polley, Parker Posey, Amy Schumer, Kyra Sedgwick, Chlöe Sevigny and Ben Stiller.
The guild is in what could possibly be the ultimate week of bargaining earlier than the June 30 expiration of its present contract, and the letter comes days after SAG-AFTRA’s leaders advised their members that negotiations have been “extremely productive” and that they “remain optimistic” {that a} honest deal could be reached with the AMPTP.
“This is not a moment to meet in the middle,” the letter provides, “and it’s not an exaggeration to say that the eyes of history are on all of us. We ask that you push for all the change we need and protections we deserve and make history doing it. If you are not able to get all the way there, we ask that you use the power given to you by us, the membership, and join the WGA on the picket lines. For our union and its future, this is our moment. We hope that, on our behalf, you will meet that moment and not miss it.”
Right here is the complete letter:
Pricey SAG-AFTRA Management and Negotiating Committee,
Thanks on your exhausting work and your management navigating by way of this tough negotiation in a really unprecedented time. As SAG-AFTRA members, we’ve been impressed over the previous couple of months by how our management outlined the distinctive stakes of the negotiations and the necessity for a realignment in our business. We have been glad to see SAG-AFTRA paved the way among the many guilds in figuring out AI as a risk to our livelihoods that should be addressed proper now, a “game changer.” We felt as if you understood how wildly our pay and our residuals have been undermined, how lengthy we’re being held between seasons. We’ve been stuffed with delight watching the union come collectively and ship such an extremely sturdy strike authorization vote.
However solidarity calls for honesty, and we have to clarify our resolve. A strike brings unbelievable hardships to so many, and nobody desires it. However we’re ready to strike if it involves that. And we’re involved by the concept SAG-AFTRA members could also be able to make sacrifices that management just isn’t. We hope you’ve heard the message from us. That is an unprecedented inflection level in our business, and what may be thought-about a great deal in every other years is just not sufficient. We really feel that our wages, our craft, our artistic freedom, and the facility of our union have all been undermined within the final decade. We have to reverse these trajectories. With inflation and continued progress in streaming, we want a seismic realignment of our minimal pay and new media residuals, our exclusivity carveouts, and different phrases. We additionally assume it’s completely important that the deal restore dignity to the casting course of by regulating how self-tapes are used. This is a gigantic drawback for working class actors. And particularly as regards Synthetic Intelligence, we don’t consider that SAG-AFTRA members can afford to make midway good points in anticipation of that extra can be coming in three years, and we expect it’s completely important that this negotiation protects not simply our likenesses, however makes certain we’re effectively compensated when any of our work is used to coach AI. We would like you to know that we’d quite go on strike than compromise on these basic factors, and we consider that, if we accept a lower than transformative deal, the way forward for our union and our craft can be undermined, and SAG-AFTRA will enter the subsequent negotiation with drastically diminished leverage.
This isn’t a second to fulfill within the center, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that the eyes of historical past are on all of us. We ask that you simply push for all of the change we want and protections we deserve and make historical past doing it. In case you are not in a position to get all the way in which there, we ask that you simply use the facility given to you by us, the membership, and be part of the WGA on the picket strains. For our union and its future, that is our second. We hope that, on our behalf, you’ll meet that second and never miss it.
The letter comes days after SAG-AFTRA’s leaders advised members that the guild’s ongoing contract negotiations with the AMPTP have been “extremely productive” and that they “remain optimistic” a good deal could be reached.
On Monday, SAG-AFTRA’s two main political factions mentioned they shaped a unity slate to endorse the reelection of the guild’s president Fran Drescher and secretary-treasurer Joely Fisher happening later this summer time. Drescher had been elected president on the prime of the ruling Unite for Energy ticket, whereas Fisher was elected on the MembershipFirst slate.
That uncommon present of solidarity comes on the heels of the unanimous vote of the guild’s board to suggest a strike-authorization vote, which was then accredited by 98% of the membership.
SAG-AFTRA is presently getting into what could possibly be the ultimate week of its negotiations for a brand new movie and TV contract; the present contract expires Friday at midnight PT.
The Writers Guild of America is on Day 57 of its strike towards the AMPTP over its personal movie and TV contract.
