#Writers Guild, Actors’ Equity Send SAG-AFTRA Solidarity Messages As Its Strike Begins

Moments after SAG-AFTRA leaders declared that the union was going on strike, fellow entertainment unions began issuing statements of solidarity.  

The Writers Guild of America, whose members have been on strike since May 2, pledged support to the actors, while noting that members of both unions have already been supporting each other on the picket lines. 

Additionally, the WGA highlighted the benefit of the two unions working together. During the last “double strike” in 1960, the guild noted that both parties won gains in residuals, pension and health funds. 

This time, both unions have shared interests at the negotiating table involving residuals, the use of artificial intelligence and more. 

“The AMPTP has proven unwilling to meet the justifiable demands of actors and writers at the bargaining table in 2023.  We stand solidly behind our union siblings in SAG-AFTRA as they begin their work stoppage. The last time both of our unions struck at the same time, actors and writers won landmark provisions that we all continue to benefit from today – residuals and pension and health funds,” the WGA wrote in a message to members Thursday.

“SAG-AFTRA has supported the WGA from the start of our negotiations, joining our picket lines and rallies across the country every day writers have been on strike. We pledge to fully support SAG-AFTRA as they strike to get the contract they deserve,” the message continues.

The Actors’ Equity Association, which represents actors and stage managers in live theater and therefore has a large membership crossover with SAG-AFTRA, issued a statement from President Kate Shindle, who spoke about the need for actors to gain protection against their likeness being used and then replicated in the future. 

“Actors’ Equity Association stands in solidarity with SAG-AFTRA as they strike in pursuit of a fair TV/ Theatrical/Streaming contract from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Performers deserve to share in the success of the work we do for these global, multi-billion-dollar companies. Nobody should step in front of a camera fearing that today’s work will be mined, manipulated or repurposed in the future without consent or compensation. And like all workers, SAG-AFTRA members deserve to have employers bargain in good faith toward a strong contract that will remain relevant in a rapidly evolving medium. The AMPTP’s behavior once again prioritizes shareholders over the workers who create their hugely profitable content, instead of simply making a deal to get everyone back to work. Shame on them,” the statement reads.

On Thursday, the AMPTP, which bargains on behalf of major Hollywood studios, said it had “presented a deal that offered historic pay and residual increases, substantially higher caps on pension and health contributions, audition protections, shortened series option periods, and a groundbreaking AI proposal that protects actors’ digital likenesses.”

However, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, national executive director of SAG-AFTRA, highlighted the AI proposal in particular, saying that the studios had offered to pay background performers for one day of work in exchange for the rights to their digital likeness “for the rest of eternity with no compensation.” Overall, SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher called the offers from the studios “insulting” and filled with “incremental changes.”

“We stand in solidarity, in unprecedented unity, with our union and our sister unions and the unions around the world are standing by us, as well as other labor unions, because at some point the jig is up,” Drescher said.

“You cannot keep being dwindled and marginalized and disrespected and dishonored. The entire business model has been changed by streaming, digital, AI. This is a moment of history. That is a moment of truth. If we don’t stand tall right now, we are all going to be in trouble,” she continued.

The SAG-AFTRA strike, which will impact 160,000 members, will begin at midnight, and combined with the WGA strike put on a pause on many of the remaining productions that had been shooting with out the writers. Actors will be on the picket line starting Friday morning.

Since the start of the WGA strike, there’s been a large degree of solidarity between the entertainment unions, with prominent actors attending rallies and picket lines, and union leaders from SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, Actor’s Equity and more pledging to stand together.

Ahead of SAG-AFTRA contract deadline, a coalition including the Directors Guild of America (which ratified its agreement with AMPTP in late June), WGA East and West, IATSE and Hollywood Basic Crafts issued a statement backing SAG-AFTRA’s fight: “While the studios have collective worth of trillions of dollars, billions of viewers globally, and sky-high profits, this fight is not about actors against the studios, but rather about workers across all crafts and departments in the industry standing together to prevent mega-corporations from eroding the conditions we fought decades to achieve.”

SAG-AFTRA has been negotiating with the AMPTP since June 7. While SAG-AFTRA leaders had initially said that talks were “extremely productive,” the initial deadline was extended through July 12 and a federal mediator joined negotiations that day, at the request of the AMPTP. In addition to protections around AI and streaming residuals, the actors’ union was negotiating for improvements to its benefits plans and changes to self-taped auditions.