Pat Reidy joined a march and rally of striking actors Thursday in Chicago, holding a sign showing a copy of a residual seven-cent check she received. Above and below the image, he wrote: “Strike! Because this sucks.
The paltry check, and another for eight cents, came from Reidy’s job at Max’s. South side, where he appeared in five episodes over three seasons. “It cost them more to mail it to me,” Reidy said. the hollywood reporter. “We went to the negotiating table in good faith and ended up having to come here and sweat our butts off in the Chicago heat just to get people to listen to us. … We have to fight every step of the way. It’s beyond frustrating for me.”
Reidy was one of more than 1,000 SAG-AFTRA members and supporters who marched three-quarters of a mile from Millennium Park to Buckingham Fountain in downtown Chicago for a rally where union leaders and representatives from other unions, including the Writers Guild of America, Teamsters, Chicago Federation of Labor and Chicago Teachers Union, spoke in solidarity. The chairs of the Illinois legislature’s labor committees, Sen. Robert Peters and Rep. Marcus Evans, also expressed their support.
“In the state of Illinois, we give millions of dollars to producers to make movies and television shows in this state,” Peters said. “They can give you a fucking contract. They can give you fucking health. They can give you fucking good salaries.” He then led the crowd in a chant of “Fuck AI!”
chicago police Amy Morton usual told her THR that “the total rejection of our demands [by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers] It was very rude.”
“All the issues that are on the table are really vital,” he continued. “The actors have never demanded so much in the history of this union. Our demands have never been outrageous. So this is really bothering me.”
Sydney Charles, who has appeared on Shameless and The Chihe told the crowd at the rally that the walkout is about “the actor who is number 1 on the call sheet to the actor who is number 101 on the call sheet.”
“Our quality of life as workers and artists is being threatened,” said Charles. “We’re here because most of us — I think the number is 86 percent of the people in this membership — don’t make the $26,000 a year to pay [union] health care. We are here for each person who has surrendered to the art of storytelling.”
Charles Gardner, president of the Chicago chapter of SAG-AFTRA, told the crowd that he sees “people who have decided to make their passion their purpose” and reiterated the union’s message of unity.
“AMPTP, you guys better get together,” Gardner said. “She comes back to the table, because Chicago doesn’t accept her. LA is not having it. New York is not having it. This country is not having it.”
