A group of 130 big name Hollywood stars have sent a joint letter to leaders of the screen Actors Guild asking them to call off a strike authorization vote. The letter cites the current economic downturn and calls for the union to “take the high road,” accept an “imperfect” contract now and unite with other unions to demand a better deal when all of the contracts come up again in three years.
The long list of A-list stars who signed begins with Alan Alda and ends with Louis Zoric. In between are such major names as Jason Alexander, Alec and William Baldwin, Josh Brolin, Pierce Brosnan, George Clooney, Glenn Close, Billy Crystal, Matt Damo, Ted Danson, Brian Dennehy, Danny DeVito, Cameron Diaz, Mike Farrell, Sally Field, Morgan Freeman, Kelsey Grammer, Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, Jeremy Irons, Diane Keaton, Rob Lowe, Marlee Matlin, Debra Messing, Helen Mirren, Eva Longoria Parker, Kevin Spacey, Mary Steenburgen, Jeffrey Tambor and Charlize Theron.
“We feel very strongly that SAG members should not vote to authorize a strike at this time. We don’t think that an authorization can be looked at as merely a bargaining tool. It must be looked at as what it is – an agreement to strike if negotiations fail,” the letter states.
SAG has scheduled the strike authorization vote for January. But dissent has been growing. On Friday the union’s New York board called for the vote to be suspended. “While issuing a strike authorization may have been a sensible strategy in October, we believe it is irresponsible to do so now,” the New Yorkers said.
