Hollywood Teamsters Chief Lindsay Dougherty On Potential WGA Strike, Picket Lines, Union Solidarity & Studios’ “Bullsh*t”

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: “There are folks that are working in the motion picture industry that are not making enough money to have a sustainable life, to be able to buy a home — which is just insane,” says Hollywood Teamsters leader Lindsay Dougherty of the hard economic realities her members and other Hollywood unions like the Writers Guild of America are being squeezed by.

It should be no great revelation that when Teamsters talk, Hollywood may want to pay close attention. “Insane especially when we’re all working for employers that have billions upon billions of profits and projected profits in the future with the new model of streaming,” the union Vice President and Director of the Teamsters Motion Picture Division adds of the studios. “This is not something that the employers should be getting a break on by any means.” The Disneys, Apples, Warner Bros, Netflixs and more might be angling for a break, but as talks between the WGA and AMPTP look to go down to the wire tonight before the scribes’ contract expires and a possible strike begins, the Local 399 chief is making sure her members know where things stand in what could be a very fluid situation tomorrow.

Emphasizing the current Teamsters’ contract, Dougherty and her team just sent out a dos and don’ts to their members this International Workers’ Day laying out what could come next and what’s the rules around picket lines.

Should the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (the AMPTP) be unable to address the real and reasonable issues the writers have brought to the table in bargaining, the WGA will be left with no other choice than to strike,” the FAQ email says (read it here).”We know it all too well – the workers that bring productions to life must constantly