SAG-AFTRA Board Speaks Out in Support of WGA, Urges Studios to ‘Remove Roadblocks to Fair and Equitable Wages’
variety.comWilliam Earl SAG-AFTRA’s national board has lent its support to the WGA as the latter guild buckles down for a last sprint of negotiations next week in the days leading up to the May 1 expiration of film and TV writers’ master contract with Hollywood’s major employers. “SAG-AFTRA stands strongly in support and solidarity with the members of the Writers Guild of America who are engaged in contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
It is long past time for the studios, streamers, and other employers in the entertainment industry to remove roadblocks to fair and equitable wages and working conditions, and to agree to terms that reflect the unique worth and contribution of creative talent and workers, without whom the industry would not exist,” read a resolution passed Saturday by a unanimous vote of SAG-AFTRA’s national board.
The performers union even included a photo of Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA’s national executive director, with WGA West chief negotiator Ellen Stutzman, which was taken Friday at the Sherman Oaks headquarters of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, where Hollywood’s collective bargaining talks are usually held.
The May 1 deadline has Hollywood’s creative community on edge about the possibility of a work stoppage forcing the industry to abruptly shutter production or scramble to work around the absence of writers and showrunners.
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