SAG-AFTRA Strike Continues For Better Contract

SAG-AFTRA Strike Continues For Better Contract (released 10/30/2023) By Douglas Lorah This has been a year of striking. Unemployment is low, which would make one think that workers are happy. This is also the opposite of what happens during a time when the economy in general is good, but the cost of living is high. Corporate profits are at record levels. The cost of housing and food in America are at all time highs in comparison to wages. We've seen strikes with UAW auto workers, threats from delivery personnel at UPS, and of course the entertainment industry is no different with strikes by the WGA, which has since ended and currently, the SAG-AFTRA strike is now over 100 days. Most of the concerns with writers and actors have been about pay for streaming and the use of artificial intelligence. Writer and Showrunner of Law & Order: SVU, Warren Leight had the following to say yesterday on Twitter taking a "get it done" approach: If the AMPTP can accept reality and settle with @SAGAFTRA in next 24 to 48 hours, the networks and studios will still be able to produce 13 episode seasons of their hour long dramas. This is what networks call "a ticking clock" when they give notes. — Warren Leight (@warrenleightTV) October 29, 2023 A few days earlier, Actor John Ales had a different approach: Open Letter to SAG Actors: YEAR AFTER YEAR, if we aren't in front of cameras before Halloween, or at BEST the week before Thanksgiving, we can FORGET EARNING ANY $ until after SUNDANCE. Rumors are circling that we've had enough & are saying take a deal. Fuck off with that shit. — John Ales AF™? (@IAmJohnAles) October 26, 2023 We went to Rockefeller Center, one of the strike locations in New York City, on Thursday, October 26. WGA members joined in solidarity like SAG-AFTRA did for them over the previous months. Alex Moffat Print this article

SAG-AFTRA Strike Continues For Better Contract

(released 10/30/2023)
By Douglas Lorah

This has been a year of striking. Unemployment is low, which would make one think that workers are happy. This is also the opposite of what happens during a time when the economy in general is good, but the cost of living is high. Corporate profits are at record levels. The cost of housing and food in America are at all time highs in comparison to wages.

We've seen strikes with UAW auto workers, threats from delivery personnel at UPS, and of course the entertainment industry is no different with strikes by the WGA, which has since ended and currently, the SAG-AFTRA strike is now over 100 days.

Most of the concerns with writers and actors have been about pay for streaming and the use of artificial intelligence.

Writer and Showrunner of Law & Order: SVU, Warren Leight had the following to say yesterday on Twitter taking a "get it done" approach:

If the AMPTP can accept reality and settle with @SAGAFTRA in next 24 to 48 hours, the networks and studios will still be able to produce 13 episode seasons of their hour long dramas. This is what networks call "a ticking clock" when they give notes.
— Warren Leight (@warrenleightTV) October 29, 2023

A few days earlier, Actor John Ales had a different approach:

Open Letter
to SAG Actors:
YEAR AFTER YEAR, if we aren't in front of cameras before Halloween, or at BEST the week before Thanksgiving, we can FORGET EARNING ANY $ until after SUNDANCE.
Rumors are circling that we've had enough & are saying take a deal. Fuck off with that shit.
— John Ales AF™? (@IAmJohnAles) October 26, 2023

We went to Rockefeller Center, one of the strike locations in New York City, on Thursday, October 26. WGA members joined in solidarity like SAG-AFTRA did for them over the previous months.

Alex Moffat

Print this article

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