In a show of solidarity, major Hollywood labor unions participated in a march in Los Angeles on Wednesday as the writers strike enters its eighth week.
Participants from several labor groups, including the Screen Actors Guild and the Teamsters, gathered in the Pan Pacific Park in the morning before setting off for a planned rally at the La Bera tar Pits at noon.
The strike began May 2, when 20,000 writers stopped working after the union was unable to reach a contract agreement with the studios.
The dispute expanded when the directors’ and actors’ unions began their contract negotiations the next month, putting the heat on the studios to reach a deal or face a much larger strike.
The SAG signed a letter of solidarity with the striking writers and said that if they did not reach a deal by the end of June, when their contract expires, then they would join the writers in striking.
The directors guild reached a tentative agreement with the studios in early June.
Writers are asking for increased pay for residuals on streaming content, better workplace protections along with further restrictions on the use of artificial intelligence in television and film writing.
The strike has a long way to go to outlast the 2007-2008 strike that lasted 100 days.
According to some estimates, the ongoing strike has cost the California economy at least $1.5 billion over the past 50 days.
