GT
This is the 113th day of the WGA strike and the 40th day of the SAG-AFTRA strike.
The Day of Solidarity with the National Union kicked off Tuesday in New York City as several hundred protesters formed a picket line two blocks outside the offices of Amazon and HBO in Manhattan. Striking writers and actors saw their ranks bolstered on Tuesday by unionized teachers, nurses, truck drivers, musicians, retail and hotel workers, and got vocal encouragement from union bosses who promised their support.
And in what may be a sign of how long the WGA strike appears to have lasted, New York Sen. Jessica Ramos began her remarks by referring to “the past 100 years” before coming to her own conclusion to say “100 days,” a correction that elicited laughs. “It felt like 100 years,” she explained, before moving on.
“You are the tip of the spear,” Charles Wokanick, president of the million-member New Jersey AFL-CIO, told members of SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America in one of a handful of speeches he delivered to the sitters. They crowd the city’s Hudson Yards business corridor. More than once, speakers critical of the practices of CEOs inside and outside the entertainment industry have had to pause to blow long horns from passing truck drivers painted semi-patriotic red, white and blue.
Joining a cast including Jesse Eisenberg, Morena Baccarin, Carla Gugino, and F. Murray Abraham to a demonstration that also included union-themed karaoke, cheers in solidarity with drum circles and live music by a brass quintet of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.
Related: 15 Films About Trade Unions And Strikes – Photo Gallery
“Everyone I talk to obviously supports the unions and supports the strike, but everyone has different expectations” about when it might end, Eisenberg told Deadline. the man of steel actor f social network The Oscar nominee didn’t volunteer to make the prediction himself, but his wife, Anna Strout, stood up for him, telling Deadline, “We’re excited to get back to work when our demands are met.”
They were joined on the picket line by Suzanne Borfar, a black mirror An alumna who also teaches in People’s History Voices, a New York high school theater project inspired by historian Howard Zinn’s book on workers and other grassroots movements, A People’s History of the United States.
The turnout of workers from multiple professions on Tuesday was a testament to history repeating, Purvar said. “I think there’s a great, long-standing tradition of solidarity among workers, especially when we see this kind of corporate greed and it feels so familiar,” he said.
“Do you hear the honking?” she said on one trumpet blast. “This is because everyone agrees that corporate greed takes precedence over the work of the workers, the people who make things, the people who are the creators.”
The speakers stressed that there is no difference between the ranks of movie and television stars and union employees in other fields. Teachers, truck drivers, nurses and steelworkers alike were here with actors and writers “because we know that an injury to one person is an injury to everyone,” Randi Weingarten, longtime president of the American Federation of Teachers, told reporters before she reached the picket line.
“Workers from all over the city, from every corner of this city, are standing with you in this fight,” said Vincent Alvarez, president of the AFL-CIO of New York.
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander reiterated a warning he sent in letters to three studio heads last week that they risk investor confidence if the strike continues. Lander signed the letter on behalf of the trustees of the $250 billion New York State Pension Fund, which has investments in large media companies to help pay for retirement plans for local state and government employees.
“These workers are here in solidarity with you, too, and they’re not happy that their retirement money, their pension funds, are invested in companies that treat their workers like shit,” Lander said. “It’s not just your workers, it’s not just your customers, it’s your investors asking you to sign a fair contract and sign it now,” he added, paraphrasing the investor letter to the CEOs of Disney, Paramount and Comcast.
“Lifelong beer expert. General travel enthusiast. Social media buff. Zombie maven. Communicator.”