Union members greeted incoming supporters with a smile Monday evening, welcoming people into the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees meeting hall in Clayton County.
One of the event’s volunteers, Diany Rodriguez, a SAG-AFTRA member, said the turnout was so impressive they ran low on name tags.
“We ran out of name tags; we ran out of sign-up sheets. It’s a wonderful problem to have,” said Rodriguez. “I think there are at least 1,500 people here, I think….we were like, ‘if we got a hundred people, that’s a big deal.'”
While Rodriguez notes that the strike has led to many production showdowns for several Atlanta-based projects, she believes that the meeting attendance shows just how much support is being given to SAG’s fight for more substantial wages and working conditions.
“As a union member who scraps and grinds every day, every week, every month … its really difficult to feel like this strike is affecting so many people besides your union members because it is, and we don’t take that lightly,” she said. “But seeing these numbers makes me feel a little less like people are anti-union … like people are blaming those who are trying to galvanize.”
The representation that surprised her was the amount of SAG-eligible members that signed up for the event.
“For me primarily, as a non-union actor looking to join a union, it’s very important that we all stick together and stand together and fight this thing out,” said actor Curtis Goode.
“If we don’t, we’re going to keep getting underpaid and bulled out of things that are common sense. We are actors, but at the end of the day, we are all humans.”
Goode and his colleague, actor Eddie Jay Rock, also emphasized the importance of holding solidarity with The Writer’s Guild of America in their efforts to receive similar compensation.
“There’s no reason why writers should write on a big show that’s making millions of dollars, and they are still having to drive Uber. That makes no sense,” Rock said.
National union leaders joined over Zoom, including President Fran Drescher of “The Nanny” fame.
Atlanta SAG-AFTRA President Eric Goins says the impact of this strike is not limited to Hollywood and New York.
“We have working-class performers all across our country,” the Atlanta chapter president and actor said. “And it’s important that those voices be heard on these very important topics of the workers that work here and throughout the country. Because this affects all the workers in our union.”
He states over four thousand union members and hundreds of non-union workers across Atlanta are standing together in this fight for better rights and better compensation.
Despite the standstill of various productions and the uncertainty of future work for many television and film personnel, Atlanta talent and crew members are standing their ground on their message for media and studio executives unwilling to meet their demands.
“All we are asking for is something that is not even going to put a dent in their pockets, that they’re not even going to notice,” said Goode. “It’s money over life at this point, and it’s just sad.”
