Performers’ union, SAG-AFTRA, has sent a message to its members calling for volunteers in the event of a potential industry strike.
The union, which represents 160,000 members, asked its members to fill out a survey to gauge their availability to picket and their interest in taking on leadership roles during a work stoppage. The survey aims to identify volunteers for various activities, including picketing, making signs, phone banking, leading chants, and serving as strike captains.
The union emphasized that members were not obligated to help by taking the survey but that the information would assist in making informed decisions about resource allocation if the need for assistance arose.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the survey also inquired about members’ language skills and their willingness to use other languages in strike support activities. It asked members to indicate if they could picket in Los Angeles and New York in the coming days and to rank their preferences for picketing locations, which coincide with current Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike picket locations.
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SAG-AFTRA’s current TV/theatrical contract was set to expire on June 30, but the union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) extended the expiration date to July 12. The union framed the extension as an attempt to exhaust all opportunities for a fair contract before considering a strike. If no agreement is reached by the end of the extension, SAG-AFTRA could call its first strike targeting film and television companies in four decades.
The industry has been anticipating the possibility of a double strike, as the WGA remains on strike and is seeking more strike captains to provide additional support if SAG-AFTRA goes on strike as well. The WGA strike, which began on May 2, has already halted significant physical production, with union writers ceasing work and picketing ongoing projects.
SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher and National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland had previously expressed optimism about the contract negotiations in a video statement. However, the member survey suggests that the union is preparing for the worst while hoping for a positive outcome in the talks with employers.
The last time SAG-AFTRA went on strike was in 1980.
