SAG-AFTRA leadership has received a letter signed by over 300 actors, urging them to adopt a tough stance during the negotiations for a new film and TV contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
“A strike brings incredible hardships to so many, and no one wants it,” reads the letter addressed to the SAG-AFTRA leadership and negotiating committee. “But we are prepared to strike if it comes to that. And we are concerned by the idea that SAG-AFTRA members may be ready to make sacrifices that leadership is not.”
The leadership has the authority to declare a strike as soon as Saturday if no deal is reached before the contract ends on Friday.
In the letter, Members are urging their negotiators not to accept anything less than a “transformative deal.”
“This is not a moment to meet in the middle, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that the eyes of history are on all of us,” they wrote. “We ask that you push for all the change we need and protections we deserve and make history doing it. If you are not able to get all the way there, we ask that you use the power given to you by us, the membership, and join the WGA on the picket lines. For our union and its future, this is our moment. We hope that, on our behalf, you will meet that moment and not miss it.”
The signatories of the letter also include: Kevin Bacon, Quinta Brunson, Glenn Close, David Duchovny, Chelsea Handler, Eva Longoria, Jennifer Lawrence, Bob Odenkirk, Mark Ruffalo, Meryl Streep, Rami Malek, Patton Oswalt, Sarah Polley, Parker Posey, Amy Schumer, Kyra Sedgwick, Chlöe Sevigny and Ben Stiller and many more.