Dispatches From The Picket Lines, Day 42: AFL-CIO Joins Striking Writers In NYC; Connelly-Verse And Comedy On West Coast

deadline.com:

The head of the country’s largest labor union joined striking Writers Guild film and television writers at a rally on Monday outside the New York City offices of streaming giant Amazon and said the writers’ cause has the support of workers from across unionized labor.  “You are fighting for all of us,” Liz Schuler, president of the 12.5-million member AFL-CIO, told about 200 people in a block-long picket line facing Amazon’s East Coast headquarters in the Manhattan’s Hudson Yards development. “Can you hear us, Jeff Bezos?” Shuler said, referencing Amazon’s CEO, from her spot on the curb in a towering glass and steel office park where Amazon’s corporate neighbors include Warner Bros Discovery, Wells Fargo and BlackRock.

Shuler shared the microphone Monday with union leaders and a state senator, Jessica Ramos from Queens, who questioned the tax breaks that Amazon receives from union-friendly New York for everything from warehouse construction to film and television production, given what she said is the company’s hostility towards unions. RELATED: WGA Strike Photos: Stars, Writers, Showrunners & Their Supporters On The Picket Line “I’m here because I’m bringing the voice and the power of 12 1/2 million working people who have your back,” said Schuler, who oversees an umbrella organization of 60 affiliated unions representing rail workers, flight attendants, teachers, professional athletes and other tradespeople, including the 7,000 members of the Writers Guild of America East.

AFL-CIO chief Liz Shuler speaking at WGA-E rally today outside Amazon HQ in Manhattan #WritersStrike pic.twitter.com/iwLYp7hZQa Schuler said that “there are a lot of workers who are fed up and fired up in this country” and they are backing WGA