UNITED STATES. Los Angeles : Unions representing teachers, truck drivers, and other workers who will soon be headed to the negotiating table turned out in downtown Los Angeles on Friday to show their solidarity for the Hollywood film and television writers who are on strike.
On May 2, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) started a strike after failing to negotiate a salary agreement with media corporations like Walt Disney Co. (DIS.N), Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. (WBD.O), and Netflix Inc. (NFLX.O).
A few hundred union members from the tourism and hospitality sectors, logistics workers, teachers, and public employees gathered in downtown Los Angeles on Friday to show their support for one another. According to the organisers, the member unions collectively represented more than 200,000 workers whose collective bargaining agreements were set to expire in 2023.
Executive Secretary of the California Labour Federation Lorena Gonzalez warned the crowd, “It’s going to be a hot labour summer. It’s your strength in standing together that’s going to ensure the next generation of workers have the ability to live.”
Organisers said that the unions had universal demands for decent wages in light of escalating prices for food, housing, and transportation.
Danielle Roderick, a writer, expressed her hope that the writers will inspire a movement of “everybody not taking it.”
“Everybody feels like they are getting eaten alive in some way,” stated Roderick, who attended the event with her husband, who is also a writer, and two children.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which is the trade group for major studios, has claimed to have provided “generous” raises in writers’ pay. No further negotiations between the two parties are scheduled.
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