Nearly 3,600 SAG-AFTRA members sign open letter declaring they would rather stay on strike than ‘cave’ to bad deal

27 October 2023

More than 3,600 SAG-AFTRA members have signed an open letter declaring they would rather stay on strike than “cave” to a bad deal.

More than 3,600 SAG-AFTRA members have signed an open letter declaring they would rather stay on strike than “cave” to a bad deal

The hardline group, which calls itself Members in Solidarity, includes actors Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jon Hamm, Maya Hawke, Marisa Tomei, John Leguizamo and Bryan Cranston, among many other famous names.

Their letter expresses support for the SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee and says that it speaks for the majority of the guild who “are still standing in solidarity, ready to strike as long as it takes and to endure whatever we must in order to win a deal that is worthy of our collective sacrifice”.

It comes as SAG-AFTRA has been on strike for more than 100 days, bringing almost all scripted film and TV production in North America to a standstill.

The Members in Solidarity letter says: “We have not come all this way to cave now.

“We have not gone without work, without pay and walked picket lines for months just to give up on everything we’ve been fighting for.

“We cannot and will not accept a contract that fails to address the vital and existential problems that we all need fixed.”

Last week, George Clooney led a group of A-listers in an effort to present the guild leadership with alternate proposals that they hoped might help break the stalemate.

But Fran Drescher, president of the union, rebuffed that offer, saying the ideas violated labour law and didn’t “hold water”.

There has since been more discontent, as many members are eager to return to work.

The Members in Solidarity letter acknowledges that, saying: “In any union, there will always be a minority who are not willing to make temporary sacrifices for the greater good.”

Among the signatories is Gabrielle Carteris, who preceded Fran as president of the union.

Major studios returned to the bargaining table earlier this week with a new offer but the two sides remain deadlocked on a huge number of issues and time is running out for the industry to salvage the 2023-24 TV season and the 2024 summer box office.