Can Hollywood use foreign actors to break SAG-AFTRA strike? Studios exploit loophole as protests intensify
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: A major strike has disrupted the Hollywood industry after several years. Many A-list actors along with models, video game performers, radio presenters, and YouTube influencers have joined the walkout called last week by the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) — the US actors’ union.
Initially, the Writers Guild of America’s (WGA) members began the strike in May. The Guardian reported that it started after the union could not “reach an agreement on higher pay, pitting its 11,500 screenwriters against old-guard companies, such as Universal, Paramount and Walt Disney, as well as tech newcomers, such as Netflix, Amazon, and Apple.”
Now, both the unions — SAG-AFTRA and WGA — have taken a stand together against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which includes names like Warner Bros, Netflix, NBC Universal, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Sony, and Paramount. Though actors across the US can choose not to work, there are many shows whose production can continue as they “have a mix of staffers and cast members who are members of different unions and therefore do not fall under strike rules,” Newsweek reported.
Can Hollywood use foreign actors to break SAG-AFTRA strike?
There are many workers who come under the British Union Equity and cannot reportedly stop working due to the UK’s anti-trade-union laws. The performing arts and entertainment trade union, which comprises of 47,000 performers and creative practitioners, spoke with Newsweek and went on to show “unwavering solidarity” with SAG-AFTRA.
It noted, “Equity stands full square behind our sister union in their claim and the action their Board has agreed to take. Equity too is experiencing bullish engagers attempting to undermine its collectively bargained agreements. SAG-AFTRA has our total solidarity in this fight. We say clearly to the AMPTP and their members that they need to move significantly and swiftly to meet the reasonable aspirations of SAG-AFTRA's members. The members of our unions, and all entertainment unions across the globe, create the vast wealth within our industry—it is right and just that they have decent, modern pay and conditions.”
“The convoluted and pernicious hurdles faced by all unions in the United Kingdom are a national disgrace and need urgent reform. The regrettable consequence of this framework is that what artists working in the United Kingdom—whether SAG-AFTRA and/or Equity members (or both)—can do may be different from their comrades in the United States and other parts of the world,” Equity continued.
However, it also added, “Consequently, a performer joining the strike (or refusing to cross a picket line) in the UK will have no protection against being dismissed or sued for breach of contract by the producer or the engager. Likewise, if Equity encourages anyone to join the strike or not cross a picket line, Equity itself will be acting unlawfully and hence liable for damages or an injunction.”
‘I hope Equity members will strike in solidarity’
Meanwhile, according to Hannah Yelin, a senior lecturer in media and culture at Oxford Brookes University in the UK, people from outside the US working in Hollywood should stand alongside those who are striking. She reportedly shared, “Right now is an incredibly significant juncture in terms of how we as a society value the labor of those in the creative industries and what we want those industries to look like in the future.”
“I hope Equity members will strike in solidarity rather than take advantage of the opportunity to take on extra work created by the strikes. The latter would be myopic, as related cultural, social, and technological forces are coming for their pay and working conditions. For all of us, really. These strikes have wide-reaching ramifications,” Yelin added.