Challenging SAG-AFTRA candidates suggest mediator to end strike
Two challenging candidates running in the SAG-AFTRA election have encouraged the union to commission an external mediator to help resolve the ongoing actors’ strike, which has no end in sight two months on.
Maya Gilbert-Dunbar, one of the presidential candidates running against Fran Drescher for union leadership, contends that the current administration has displayed passivity as a means of protest. In contention, Gilbert-Dunbar encourages a more urgent approach in resuming discussions with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
“Chain your asses up to the damn door of the Sherman Oaks building to show how serious you are,” Gilbert-Dunbar said. “People can’t afford this. Strikes were never meant to last months and months. An effective strike should be short and sweet.”
Gilbert-Dunbar is now running for president alongside Peter Antico, who aims for the secretary-treasurer title. In a new interview, Antico concurred with his partner’s sentiments.
“I don’t believe Fran is taking the correct course,” Antico said. “You can’t make any decisions with emotion. You have to have a neutral third party. You need to bring in a calm voice that would help mediate it.”
Drescher, who assumed office in 2021, currently heads the union during its first strike against major studios in 43 years. The union’s key demands include safeguards against the utilisation and training of artificial intelligence, an 11% hike in minimum rates, and a 2% share of streaming revenue.
The resounding 98% vote in favour of strike authorisation indicates strong support from the union’s membership for the strike’s objectives. Drescher has consistently criticised top studio executives, famously referring to Disney CEO Bob Iger as an “ignoramus” and calling out widespread corporate greed.
In an interview with NPR earlier this week, Drescher argued that the production companies “are not wanting to come to the table because they’re hoping that they can hold out longer than we can hold out.”
Addressing their “insatiable appetite for money,” she explained that actors are not “serfs” or “peons.” Drescher added, “They’re still not seeing that the culture needs to change, that they need to change,”
Drescher and her running mate, Joely Fisher, are the favourites to win the current re-election, the results of which will be revealed on the afternoon of Friday, September 8th.
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