Actors picket amid calls for renewed talks
Actors union members returned to the picket lines Monday to continue their strike against Hollywood studios amid calls from union President Fran Drescher and other entertainment industry union leaders for negotiations to resume “immediately.”
Drescher slammed the major studios Friday for suspending contract talks with the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and called for a resumption of negotiations. That call was echoed later by leaders of various Hollywood unions who issued a joint statement demanding an immediate return to the bargaining table.
The joint statement came from the Writers Guild of America's West and East branches, the Directors Guild of America, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, the American Federation of Musicians, the Teamsters and Hollywood Basic Crafts.
It came two days after negotiations broke down in the ongoing labor standoff, with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers suspending the talks and issuing a statement saying, “After meaningful conversations, it is clear that the gap between the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA is too great, and conversations are no longer moving us in a productive direction.”
But Friday, the unions stood in solidarity with SAG-AFTRA.
“Our members work sideby-side for the same handful of employers, and our unions and guilds collectively stand more united than ever,” the unions' statement read.
“Each day a fair contract addressing actors' unique priorities is delayed is another day working professionals across our industry suffer unnecessarily. At this point, it should be clear to the studios and the AMPTP that more is needed than proposals which merely replicate the terms negotiated with other unions.”
Earlier Friday, Drescher appeared on NBC's Today Show and said the breakdown in talks “really came as a shock to me.”
“What does that exactly mean and why would you walk away from the table?” she said.”It's not like we're asking for anything that's so outrageous. It's so wrong. And it's so unfair that they walked out of the meeting, and so disrespectful.”
The two sides met five times since Oct. 2, their first talks since the SAG-AFTRA strike began July 14, including on Wednesday.
“We have negotiated with them in good faith, despite the fact that last week they presented an offer that was, shockingly, worth less than they proposed before the strike began,” according to a statement by SAG-AFTRA Wednesday.
The union said studio CEOs “walked away from the bargaining table after refusing to counter our latest offer.”
SAG-AFTRA demands include general wage increases, protections against the use of actor images through artificial intelligence, boosts in compensation for successful streaming programs and improvements in health and retirement benefits.