Some screen sector unions and guilds in Canada are expressing support for their counterparts in the U.S. amid labour strife in the industry south of the border.

The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) has issued a letter of solidarity for fellow performers’ union Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), and the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) has announced plans to partake in a rally in support of the striking members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA).

The letter from ACTRA National president Eleanor Noble was addressed to SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher and dated Monday (June 5), the day SAG-AFTRA voted to authorize a strike ahead of the start of TV/theatrical/streaming contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) on Wednesday (June 7).

“ACTRA members will always have your back as you fight for a fair deal in a climate where workers must fight for respect and compensation for the contributions they make on each and every set,” wrote Noble in the letter that ACTRA provided to Playback Daily.

“We stand shoulder to shoulder with you in this fight as we understand the unique challenges facing all performers in a digital and streaming world. Protections and benefits for actors must be front and centre in the face of record inflation, and the threat AI poses to all our livelihoods in this important industry.”

SAG-AFTRA members voted 97.91% in favour of a strike if a deal isn’t reached, with nearly 65,000 members casting ballots for a voting percentage of about 48% of eligible voters, said the union. The current contracts expire at midnight on June 30.

Drescher said in a statement the union wants a new contract that “reflects the new digital and streaming business model and brings all our concerns for protections and benefits into the now.”

The AMPTP issued a release saying it’s “approaching these negotiations with the goal of achieving a new agreement that is beneficial to SAG-AFTRA members and the industry overall.”

ACTRA has been engaged in its own labour dispute on this side of the border, after negotiations broke down last year with the Institute of Canadian Agencies over the National Commercial Agreement. ACTRA has held rallies related to the issue, including one at the Marketing Awards in Toronto on Tuesday (June 6).

Meanwhile, the WGC has announced it and several other organizations will gather next week in Toronto to join “screenwriting guilds and allies around the world for Screenwriters Everywhere — a global day of solidarity and action in support of the Writers Guild of America.”

The WGA strike action began on May 2, after six weeks of negotiations with the AMPTP failed to end in a deal before the Minimum Basic Agreement expired. Industry leaders in Canada say the labour disruption could start to have a more significant impact in Canada if it stretches into the fall.

“The Writers Guild of Canada stands in solidarity with the 11,500 members of the WGA who have been on strike since May 2,” said WGC president Alex Levine in a statement. “These are global issues. The struggle for fair compensation impacts all screenwriters everywhere.”

The WGC said in news release that its members — along with those from the WGA, ACTRA and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), among others — “will be showing their support at a rally in Toronto and online in a social media campaign.”

The rally is set for June 14 outside the downtown offices of Amazon and Apple, which are both housed in the same building.

A spokesperson for the WGC tells Playback that the rally is happening outside the building housing Amazon and Apple specifically because they are members of the AMPTP, which the WGA is striking against, so it seemed “an appropriate location.”

Amazon and Apple also did not respond to requests for comment on the rally as of press time.

Photo: Writers Guild of America East members join United Musicians and Allied Workers as they picket at the Penske Media Corporation’s offices on May 31, 2023 in New York City. Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images