SAG-AFTRA members say they’d rather stay on strike than ‘cave’

More than 3,600 SAG-AFTRA members signed an open letter saying they would rather remain on strike than “surrender” to a bad deal.

The group calls itself Members of Solidarityincluding Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jon Hamm, Maya Hawke, Marisa Tomei, John Leguizamo, and Bryan Cranston, among many other notable names.

The letter expresses support for SAG-AFTRA’s bargaining committee and says it speaks on behalf of the majority of the union who “still stand in solidarity, ready to strike as long as it takes and endure whatever we must in order to win the deal.” “This is worth our collective sacrifices.”

SAG-AFTRA went on strike for 105 days, halting almost all scripted film and television production in North America.

“We haven’t come all the way to the cave yet,” the message said. “We didn’t go without work, without pay, and marched on picket lines for months just to give up everything we were fighting for. We cannot and will not accept a contract that fails to address the vital, existential problems we all need to fix.”

The letter comes at a critical stage of the strike, when many members are beginning to feel restless.

Last week, George Clooney led a group of celebrities in a bid to present alternative proposals to the union’s leadership that they hoped would help break the deadlock. Fran Drescher, the union’s president, rejected the offer, saying the ideas violate labor law and don’t “hold up.”

Since then, there has been more resentment than discontent, with many members eager to get back to work.

“In any union, there will always be a minority who are unwilling to make temporary sacrifices for the common good,” the letter points out.

Among the signatories is Gabrielle Carteris, who preceded Fran Drescher as union president.

The major studios returned to the negotiating table Tuesday with a new offer. SAG-AFTRA negotiators took Wednesday to consider the matter and submitted their response on Thursday.

The two sides remain at odds over a wide range of issues, and the industry is running out of time to salvage the 2023-24 TV season and the 2024 summer box office.