SAG-AFTRA pickers outside the Paramount Times Square offices on July 14.
Caitlin Houston/THR Staff
When SAG-AFTRA called its historic strike on 13 July, the UK Actors Guild was among the first industry bodies to show almost immediate solidarity.
Representing nearly 47,000 members, Equity issued a joint statement saying it stands in “unwavering solidarity” with SAG-AFTRA and its members in their “efforts to achieve a just and equitable contract, and in the interest of working performers around the world.” The union added that it would support SAG-AFTRA. by all legal means.
Unfortunately for Equity, the “by all legal means” offer little wiggle room thanks to UK strike laws, laws that union chairman Paul W. Fleming has described as “draconian” and considered among the most restrictive in the Western world (something expressed by the Prime Minister ex-Tony Blair in 1997).
Earlier this year, in a bid to curb a growing wave of industrial strikes, the UK’s Conservative government put forward a controversial new bill that would have further tightened strike laws, a law that politicians across Europe condemned amid allegations that it had failed. In compliance with the strike law. The UK’s human rights obligations.
When it comes to the SAG-AFTRA strike and equity, the crucial factor that may not be appreciated abroad is that any sympathy strike in the UK is illegal, according to Section 224 of the Trade Unions and Labor Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.
Danielle Parsons, partner in employment law at UK law firm Irwin Mitchell, said Hollywood Reporter.
This issue has been emphasized before It’s a sinAnd doctor who And years and years Writer Russell T Davies at a rally organized in solidarity with the World Championships strike for fans and held in London in June.
“I am a member of the Writers Guild of Great Britain, not a member of the Writers Guild of America,” he explained to THR. “It is literally illegal for me to strike.” He suggested that this information might not be widely known, and added, “I will go on strike for our nurses and teachers, but I am literally not allowed to.”
Like the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, Equity plans many gatherings and events in support of SAG-AFTRA. Parsons explained that she herself had not called for a strike by her members, and her right to do so and to strike in the UK was “subject to extensive trade union legislation”. Any strike that does not comply with this is likely to be illegal.
Calling a strike is not a direct step in the UK Before any industrial strike can be held the union must hold a postal vote with a majority of the members supporting the strike. But there is also more “complicated legislation around this process” that needs to be adhered to.
With no strike currently called by Equity, the union says – as part of detailed advice issued last week – that its members must continue to work on production in the UK if they are subject to an equity contract. She issued the same advice to SAG-AFTRA members working in the UK on equity contracts, noting that because a strike was “authorized under US legislation and not legal under UK legislation”, anyone under an equity contract would not have the same legal protection covering striking workers.
As Parsons explained, this means that even once a picket line is refused, “workers may be subject to disciplinary action, including dismissal and/or a claim for breach of contract.”
As it happens, even the actors at Equity who’ve warmed up to work have seen productions they’re off the ground with, especially those featuring SAG-AFTRA actors in lead roles. THR He hears about projects with two contact papers—one with SAG clients and one without—with filmmakers trying to get as far as possible without their SAG-AFTRA talent before they run out of things to shoot.
As one agent notes: “We’re all fighting for full equity projects.”
George Salay contributed to this article.
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