Bectu Pens Open Letter To AMPTP Urging “Financial Support For UK Crew” During Strikes

deadline.com:

Broadcasting union Bectu has waded into the U.S. labor dispute with an open letter to the AMPTP, urging it to financially support UK crew who are “suffering hardship” and to “resume negotiations” with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA. “It is time to address the huge inequalities within our industry and it is time for you to support crew through this shutdown,” said the letter penned by Bectu Head Philippa Childs.

The move comes after a Bectu survey found 80% of the UK’s freelance workforce had been impacted by the WGA/SAG strikes, while a petition is currently circling calling on the UK government to financially help those who have lost work.

Childs wrote to AMPTP boss Carol Lombardini today, taking the AMPTP to task for leaving freelancers “paying the price of your failure to reach an acceptable agreement with our colleagues in the WGA and SAG-AFTRA.” “It is they who face no work and no income while the dispute drags on and they who bear the brunt of these protracted negotiations,” she added. “It is surely undisputable that you have a responsibility to the workforce that is so integral to creating the content that you profit from.” She called on the AMPTP to “put in place financial support for UK crew, represented by Bectu, who are suffering incredible hardship as a result of this crisis.” Numerous British TV and film productions have had to shut down since the strike started including the likes of Disney+’s Andor and Rami Malek-starrer Amateur, while crew who were working on U.S.

shows abroad have also lost work. The situation was a hot topic at the UK producer trade body Pact briefing earlier this week, with Pact boss John McVay forecasting a “tough” 2023 for the UK industry in part due to the strikes.