SAG-AFTRA

IATSE Members Launch Reform Caucus As Hollywood Strikes Wrap

November 12, 2023 Lisa Xu, Labor Notes. Organize! Hollywood, IATSE, SAG-AFTRA, Unions, WGA, Worker Rights and Jobs

After supporting screenwriters and actors through a months-long double strike, film and television crew workers are finally stepping into the spotlight themselves. Dissatisfied with their union’s leadership and direction, a group of members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) is launching a reform caucus called CREW, or the Caucus of Rank-and-File Entertainment Workers. Their first public event will be a webinar on November 16 on preparing for the 2024 expiration of the main pattern-setting contracts they work under, the Hollywood Basic Agreement (HBA) and Area Standards Agreement (ASA).

National Union Solidarity Day Draws Big Names Amid Big Crowd

August 23, 2023 Sean Piccoli, Deadline. Resist! New York City (NYC), SAG-AFTRA, Solidarity, Strikes, Unions, Writers' Strike

National Union Solidarity Day kicked off on Tuesday in New York City with several hundred marchers forming a picket line that stretched two full blocks outside the Manhattan corporate offices of Amazon and HBO. Striking writers and actors saw their ranks bolstered on Tuesday by unionized teachers, nurses, truckers, musicians, retail and hotel workers, and they got vocal encouragement from union chiefs who promised to have their backs. In what might be a sign of how long the WGA strike seems to have lasted, New York State Senator Jessica Ramos began her remarks with a reference to “the past 100 years” before checking herself to say “100 days,” a correction that drew laughs.

Why The Hollywood Strike Matters To All Of Us

August 19, 2023 Ethan Marcotte, WBUR. Strategize! Artificial Intelligence, Artists, ChatGPT, Hollywood, Media, SAG-AFTRA, Strikes, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs, Writers' Strike

Over the last decade, the entertainment industry has shifted away from legacy distribution models like film and television and embraced a streaming-first model. The move has been a lucrative one, bringing billions of dollars in revenue to the industry. But those profits haven’t reached working actors and writers. Some 87% of actors earn less than $26,000 per year; many writers have to work second jobs to make ends meet. And so, for the first time since 1960, members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) are on strike simultaneously — and Hollywood has effectively shut down.

Hollywood Guilds Team Up With Labor Unions For ‘Hot Strike Summer’

July 29, 2023 Jeremy Fuster, The Wrap. Resist! California, Hollywood, SAG-AFTRA, Strikes, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs, Writers' Strike

Hollywood writers and actors aren’t the only unionized workers picketing in Los Angeles right now. In a show of force for the labor movement, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA are teaming up with workers across the city to march in solidarity for better wages and working conditions. Hospitality workers union Unite Here 11, which has been on strike since June 30, staged a solidarity rally in Hollywood Friday that saw hundreds of its members join up with entertainment industry workers to march from the W Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard past the famous intersection of Hollywood and Vine and on to the Netflix offices at Sunset Bronson Studios, where they were met with cheers by writers and actors on the daily picket lines.

Workers Shut Down Hollywood

July 15, 2023 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. Resist! Actors, Hollywood, SAG-AFTRA, Strikes, Worker Rights and Jobs, Writers

Hollywood is shut down now that workers organized with the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), which include actors, singers, broadcast journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers, news editors, program hosts, puppeteers, recording artists, stunt performers and voiceover artists hit the picket lines on strike for the first time in 43 years on July 14. This strike is occurring simultaneously with the Writers’ Guild of America (WGA) strike of 11,500 entertainment writers, who have ceased labor since May 2. This is the first time the two unions have struck simultaneously since 1960.

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