California Democratic Congressional Members Add Pressure Against Hollywood Studios In New Letter

In a letter written to both Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television (SAG-AFTRA) president Fran Drescher and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) President Carol Lombardini, 37 Democratic members of the House from California warned Hollywood studios on Tuesday that they were watching the SAG-AFTRA strike closely and that they want them to take the unions demands “seriously”.

SAG-AFTRA has been on strike since July 14th, as part of the bigger Hollywood strike sparked by the Writers Guild of American beginning in early May. Both unions have demanded, among other things, better pay, a way for streaming services to be factored into residuals, the usage of artificial intelligence in the industry, and having a new minimum number of writers on a show or movie. The strike, which is the first for the WGA since 2007-2008, the first SAG/SAG-AFTRA strike since 2000, and the first combined strike since 1960, has already faced considerable heat from the press.

Besides for a few foreign and independent features in which actors are allowed to participate with the union’s blessing, virtually all productions involving SAG-AFTRA actors and WGA writers have come to a standstill. Besides holding up new movies and TV shows, the strike is also having a devastating local economic impact on Los Angeles and other cities across the state seeing business from movie and TV productions.

Both sides are currently at an impasse. The AMPTP gave the latest offer, but SAG-AFTRA has refused to negotiate, sticking with their main points. Meanwhile, there is concern that the studios could have the means to simply wait out the unions. The AMPTP has put down an October deadline before the majority of actors and writers savings begin to run dry. Drescher, meanwhile has said that that the union has looked at a strike lasting for up to six months, meaning that it could last until the end of the year.

With the sides deadlocked, 37 Democratic members of Congress representing California wrote a letter to both sides on Tuesday. Spearheaded by Congressman Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), the letter stresses how important the industry is to the state while also trying to put the blame solely on studios and mentioning how studios should respect the unions and negotiate with them.

“As thousands of our constituents engage in their legally and constitutionally protected capacity to participate in a work stoppage, we urge all parties to respect and affirm collective bargaining rights as these employees negotiate with their employers,” said the Congressional members on Tuesday. “The contributions of these artists are indispensable to productions that millions of Americans watch each year to be entertained, expand their horizons, and experience unrivaled performance talent.”

A letter to the union, producers

In addition to Gomez, signers included all three major Democrats currently running for Dianne Feinstein’s Senate seat next year – Barbara Lee, Adam Schiff, and Katie Porter. In fact, the only House Democrats who didn’t sign the letter were Josh Harder, Jim Costa, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi was an especially surprising exception due to both her continued high status in the House and her district having many prominent productions take place there every year.

In a statement on Wednesday, Gomez specifically noted that “Striking is the option of last resort and comes when an employer is not negotiating in good faith. We’ll be supporting the right of these workers to go on strike and use their right to collectively bargain. But we want everybody to go to the table and we want the studios to take the workers’ demands seriously.”

Gomez pointed specifically to studios like NBC Universal using tactics like cutting the branches of trees that had hung over strikers as a way to ‘get to’ workers striking outside in the temperatures in the 90s.

“Tactics such as these have a reverse effect on workers,” added Gomez. “It actually forces workers to become more cohesive and united, because they feel that they’re under attack. This letter is meant to demonstrate to the studios that Congress is watching. We are paying attention to what they say and how they behave. Strikes are a means to an end. Their end is trying to get a good and fair contract for the workers.”

Hoping to drag out discussions until union members lose their homes & livelihoods is not good faith negotiating.

I led 36 of my colleagues, representing thousands of @sagaftra members, to affirm & respect workers' right to collective bargaining.

READ:https://t.co/anvqDG2VhN

— Rep. Jimmy Gomez (@RepJimmyGomez) July 26, 2023

However, despite the letter going out, labor experts told the Globe that it will do little, if anything, to tip the balance in the strike.

“Lawmakers do this all the time during strikes,” explained Theresa Stevenson, an arbitrator in Michigan who has helped settled union disputes and strikes in the past. “Letters like these are a way for having them try to appear level-headed and fair-minded in the strike, while also telling one of the sides that they are clearly in their court. SAG-AFTRA and their actors give a lot of donations to them and the party, so you can guess why they are so blatant in their support.”

“The crazy thing is that the AMPTP have been the more reasonable side in the strike, giving out new compromises and showing a decent amount of their hand in trying to get them to the negotiating table. But SAG-AFTRA has dug a trench and pretty much said that they aren’t taking one step back.”

“So now it will continue to be a battle of wills. August and September will have increasingly desperate pickets in all likelihood if neither side negotiates, with members really starting to suffer come the fall. Football season is where we will probably see who breaks first. Strikes have been a surprise in the past, so a deal could come much sooner. But if you look at what both sides want, there is still a long way to go here. AI is the hill SAG-AFTRA will die on, and studios have only offered a delayed use of it. This letter won’t do anything to change that too.”

As of Wednesday, negotiations between the two sides have remained at a standstill.