SAG-AFTRA’s Los Angeles Local and the Writers Guild of America will hold a “National Day of Solidarity” rally on Tuesday outside Disney Studios.
“SAG-AFTRA and WGA will join forces with the AFL-CIO and its affiliates from across the nation and across industries for a National Day of Solidarity,” SAG-AFTRA said in a statement today. “In this ‘Summer of Strikes,’ working Americans everywhere are fighting for fair contracts, better compensation, safe working conditions and protections from encroaching technology. Together, we are showing corporate America that when we fight, we win!”
SAG-AFTRA has been on strike since July 14, and the Writers Guild since May 2. The rally will start Tuesday at 10 am.
Among those scheduled to speak at the rally include SAG-AFTRA Secretary-Treasurer Joely Fisher, SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Yvonne Wheeler.
Crabtree-Ireland told reporters on Tuesday that “we remain very eager to get back to the table with the AMPTP, as we’ve said every day” since the actors’ strike began. “We have been ready, willing and able to continue bargaining with them and we very much want the AMPTP to come back to the table.”
SAG-AFTRA has said that key issues in its strike include “economic fairness, residuals, regulating the use of artificial intelligence and alleviating the burdens of the industry-wide shift to self-taping.”
The WGA, after four straight days of bargaining this week, will resume negotiations next week with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. It’s chief strike issues include pay raises, viewership-based streaming residuals, the “preservation of the writers’ room” through minimum staffing and guaranteed days of employment, and guardrails against the use of artificial intelligence to write scripts.