A message from SAG President Alan Rosenberg; WGA Rally for 11/9

Guild Members: A Message from SAG President Alan Rosenberg on the WGA Strike and Information on WGA Rally and Pickets for Friday, November 9


November 8, 2007

Dear Screen Actors Guild members,

First, let me thank the hundreds of SAG members who have been on the WGA picket lines in Los Angeles and New York. Rank-and-file members and entire casts of SAG shows have been extraordinary in support of WGA striking writers. The WGA is extremely grateful for your solidarity, as am I.

Clearly, the WGA is facing the issues and challenges we will face next year in our negotiations. The WGA is taking a stand for fair compensation for new media. Their fight is our fight.

I would like to give some guidelines for those of you on the picket lines:

Please stay at studio locations, and do not join picketers at on-location sites. Screen Actors Guild is not condoning or participating in disruption and/or attempts to shut down location shoots.

It is critical that SAG picket signs not be displayed at any locations other than the appropriate sites at the studios and networks.

If you are contracted to work on a television series or motion picture that continues to produce while the WGA is on strike, you are obligated by your personal service agreement and the “No Strike” clause in our collective bargaining agreements to go to work. You can continue to audition for work and accept new work if you choose to do so.

Screen Actors Guild members should not perform the duties covered by WGA contracts. Simply stated, you should not write anything normally written by striking WGA writers.

Finally, and most importantly, we must support our fellow SAG members on every set even if they have to cross a picket line to get to work. They are simply following the advice of their union and honoring their contract. It is not reasonable to expect SAG cast members to risk the potentially enormous personal liability that may flow from refusing to work in the absence of a SAG strike. Please note, the WGA contract includes a similar “No Strike” clause and writers would be bound to the same rules as you are if another union were striking.

We will continue to send updates and information on picket locations to you on a regular basis. Thank you all again for your support of striking writers.

In solidarity,
Alan Rosenberg

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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9 WGA PICKET LOCATIONS:

In Hollywood:

WGA RALLY
10 a.m. to noon
FOX STUDIOS
10301 W Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90064
Meeting Point: Main Gate on Motor Ave. & Pico Blvd.
Parking Options: On Motor Ave. near Cheviot Recreation Center or Century City Mall.
Cheviot Hills Recreational Center Parking Lot, off Motor Ave. (L.A. Parks and Rec) Walkable to Fox Lot.

In New York :

News Corporation
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
1211 Avenue of the Americas
(Sixth Avenue) between 47th and 48th Streets