Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/33797
FOR MEMBERS THE FIGHT FOR LABOR From coast to coast, SAG members are working to save collective bargaining. Perhaps more than at any time in recent memory, there’s a widespread feeling that the labor movement is at a crossroads. With labor in the crosshairs across the country, public workers’ rights to col- lective bargaining are under attack, and many believe it won’t end there. Seven-day work weeks, unsafe working conditions, child labor and substandard wages didn’t disappear on their own. That was the work of unions, created when intolerable conditions pushed workers to band together for their own survival. Together, workers were able to negotiate fair compensation for their hard work and achieve a better quality of life. And, like other rights and freedoms we enjoy, they need to be maintained and protected from erosion or rollback. That’s why Screen Actors Guild members have been making their voices heard. 1 click here for video 2 ACTORS STAND WITH WISCONSIN UNIONS In Wisconsin, a group of actors that included SAG members Tony Shalhoub, Bradley Whitford and Gabrielle Carteris were among those who traveled to the Badger State to stand up for workers’ rights and rally protesters at the state’s Capitol. The controversy over anti-union legislation in that state made Wisconsin the flash point for a renewed sense of union activism. Shalhoub (Monk), a Green Bay native, spoke March 12 to a crowd estimated to be as large as 100,000 people. “This is a fight, not just for union rights, but for basic rights, civil rights, human rights,” he said. Two weeks earlier, on February 26, Whitford (The West Wing) returned to his hometown of Madison to stand with the protesters. “I want to thank you for coming out today to exercise those pesky First Amendment rights,” Whitford told the crowd. “You don’t get democracy — you’ve got to make it every day.” “I am a proud union member,” said SAG and AFTRA National Board member Carteris (Beverly Hills, 90210) in an interview with CNN from the Capitol. “What starts here ends here, because otherwise it affects our entire country” SAG MEMBERS RALLY From coast to coast, SAG members stood together with fellow union members. In New York City, SAG members, including SAG New York Division President Mike Hodge, joined more than 500 people at City Hall on February 23 3 to show solidarity with Wisconsin public sector workers. A little more than a month later on March 26, the momentum continued in Los Angeles, when SAG members marched downtown with labor groups, including teachers, Teamsters and working-class Americans from across the spectrum. The crowd, which officials estimated to be between 5,000 and 8,000 people, gathered near the Los Angeles Convention Center and marched to Pershing Square for the noon rally to hear speakers, including Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa; Mahlon Mitchell, president of the Professional Firefighters of Wisconsin; and Maria Elena Durazo, secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. 4 20 SCREEN ACTOR - Spring 2011 click here for video SAG.org