SAG-AFTRA would rather remain on strike than “cave” to bad deal
As talks between SAG-AFTRA and major studios resume, more than 3,600 striking actors and other member artists have signed an open letter explaining that they would rather take the brunt of a prolonged strike than “cave” to an unsatisfactory settlement.
The large and growing association of striking actors have named themselves Members in Solidarity, including such famous names as Bryan Cranston, Marisa Tomei, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jon Hamm, Maya Hawke and John Leguizamo.
The newly issued letter reaffirms support for the SAG-AFTRA negotiating team and members of the guild who “are still standing in solidarity, ready to strike as long as it takes and to endure whatever we must in order to win a deal that is worthy of our collective sacrifice.”
The actors’ strike has lasted for a total of 105 days so far, causing a mass deactivation of North America’s once-booming film and TV industry. “We have not come all this way to cave now,” the letter reads.
“We have not gone without work, without pay and walked picket lines for months just to give up on everything we’ve been fighting for. We cannot and will not accept a contract that fails to address the vital and existential problems that we all need fixed.”
The letter follows George Clooney’s move to loosen the negotiation stalemate with a new angle of attack. His group of dedicated A-listers proposed alternative terms to the guild’s leadership. Alas, the union president, Fran Drescher, declined the proposal on grounds that it breached labour laws and didn’t “hold water.”
Watch Matt Damon explain the importance of the SAG-AFTRA strikes below.
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