Senator Smallwood-Cuevas Issues Statement on SAG-AFTRA and WGA Strikes
After participating on the picket lines for the WGA Strikes today at Fox Studios in Century City, Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (D-Los Angeles) issued the following statement about the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes:
“The SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes come at a time when working families across our state are hurting the most. It comes at a time when my district – where several film studios are based – has a median home value of $1.3 million, a price that only 7% of our residents can afford. And it comes at a time when our most vulnerable communities are not being prioritized, particularly marginalized communities of color, with Black workers comprising nearly 90% of the nation’s unemployed.
“Since going on strike in May, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers has refused to return to the bargaining table with the Writers Guild. And the same scenario is playing out with the SAG-AFTRA strike that began earlier this month. I was saddened to have read a recent report about an unnamed studio executive who said they plan to drag out the strike until writers ‘start losing their apartments and losing their houses.’
“As an organizer for two decades, I know the business model that links exploitation and exclusion. Far too many Brown and immigrant workers are being locked into low-wage jobs that don’t sustain our communities, while far too many Black workers are being locked out of quality jobs. A similar business model has emerged in the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. We’re learning how working actors and writers are denied fair wages, while at the same time we’re seeing how the leadership of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) are left on the cutting room floor.
“Three years after the racial reckoning of the George Floyd protests, we’re witnessing a paradigm shift in the film industry’s commitment toward DEI during this post-pandemic recovery. Many of California’s investments and pathways to diversity and inclusion are now being diminished by an industry that has continued to benefit from the state’s expanded $1.6 billion Film & TV Tax Credit Program.
“Let’s be clear that California’s Black, Brown and API communities make up a huge share of the industry’s audience revenue market. The film industry can’t have it both ways: Snagging unprecedented investments from the state and profiting off a multi-racial audience share, but denying fair pay to their working actors and writers and not creating an inclusive workforce.
“Expanding investments in industries that promise to retain a diverse workforce requires responsibility. Just ask those in the construction sector about the responsibility they have when working on projects with taxpayers’ dollars. Hollywood is no different.
“The SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes have called for data collection to expose the uneven pay scales between the film industry’s CEOs and the working actors and writers – just like I’ve joined my legislative colleagues in calling for data collection to track the industry’s progress in hiring and retaining a diverse workforce. This is our industry, and California knows what type of businesses and workplaces our residents deserve. Ones that are accountable to ensuring that they provide fair pay and representation for those who stood by them during the pandemic and have continued to build their profits.
“It's time for Hollywood to become the equitable partner that the people of California need them to be. That starts with the film industry working together with unions and the state to ensure that good family-sustaining jobs and DEI are prioritized in a real way.”
Senator Lola Smallwood Cuevas represents the 28th Senate District, which includes the communities of South Los Angeles, Culver City, West Los Angeles, Century City and Downtown Los Angeles. Senator Smallwood-Cuevas spent more than two decades serving as a labor organizer, civil rights activist and community advocate before her election to the State Senate. She resides in the View Park community of Los Angeles with her family.
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