The action is one of the ongoing daily protests members of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) have mounted since a May 1 national strike was called against members of the Association of National Advertisers and the American Association of Advertising Agencies. The association represents more than 3,000 of the major ad companies in the country.

Picket captain Racheal Seymore said in an interview that a key demand is "pay-per-play." Management intends to roll back this important victory for actors, which pays them each time a commercial is shown, and institutes a one-time fee for unlimited use in a commercial cycle. One reason this "pay-per-play" formula is important to union members is that actors are denied employment from other agencies when they are seen as representing a certain product. They are no longer a "fresh face." With the companies' buyout demand, the union estimates an actor would average only $11 per day over the normal 13-week commercial cycle.

The last strike by SAG was in 1988 for about three weeks. Seymore and union activist Spider Madison also pointed out that the companies want to roll back the whole wage system. The rate that actors have made for prime-time commercials has dropped dramatically from about $30,000 per commercial to $5,000 over the past few years.  
 
Winning new support
Strikers in Los Angeles have begun to win support, including from members of the Teamsters union who work at UPS and Teamsters-organized sanitation truck drivers, who refused to cross the picket lines. Union members from the Writers Guild, Musicians union, and Steelworkers locked out by Kaiser Aluminum in Spokane, Washington, have joined the pickets.

Seymore added, "Without support like that, the strike would be so much harder to win." The strikers have been invited by officials from the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union to address a rally they are having May 22 around a contract battle with Ogden food services.

While the Canadian Union for Actors ACTRA, was forced to accept a contract similar to what is being opposed by SAG, they have told their members not to take jobs at struck agencies, nor to cross the picket lines. Increasingly, production of commercials and movies has been outsourced to Canada to avoid paying higher union wages in the United States. AFTRA and SAG in Los Angeles organized protests against this last month.

Prominent individuals like professional golfer Tiger Woods and All-Star baseball player Nomar Garciaparra have shown their strike solidarity by refusing to do commercials that involve production by one of the struck companies.

Nick Castle is a member of the Directors Guild of America. Mark Friedman is a member of the International Association of Machinists.  
 
 
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