MAJA SMIEJKOWSKA
On Friday, the 160,000 members of SAG-AFTRA, known commonly as the Screen Actors Guild, are set to halt work, after contract talks between the union’s negotiating committee and the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers collapsed. At a press conference announcing the strike, union president Fran Drescher remarked:
“We are the victims here. We are being victimized by a very greedy entity. I am shocked by the way the people that we have been in business with are treating us. I cannot believe it, quite frankly, how far apart we are on so many things. How they plead poverty, that they’re losing money left and right, when giving hundreds of millions of dollars to their CEOs. It is disgusting. Shame on them. They stand on the wrong side of history at this very moment.”
She concluded her remarks by saying, “We are labor and we stand tall. We demand respect and to be honored for our contribution. You share the wealth because you cannot exist without us.”