No less a figure than Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined the picket line of film and television actors and writers represented by SAG-AFTRA and WGA. She specifically was a part of their protest in front of Netflix’s New York City office on Monday.
The Writers Guild of America, which represents about 11,500 film and television writers, began striking on May 2nd. The US actors’ union SAG-AFTRA, which has 160,000 members, called their strike on July 13th.
The liberal congresswoman from New York criticized the wealth of studio executives as contract negotiations between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and unions have stalled.
“How many private jets does David Zaslav need? For real. How many private jets do the CEOs need?” Ocasio-Cortez said on the picket line, alluding to the CEO of Warner Bros Discovery, who received a $246.6 million dollar compensation package in 2021.
As the Hollywood Reporter noted, Ocasio-Cortez continued: “We have workers all across the country either currently on strike or gearing up to be on strike because at the end of the day we are all facing the same challenge, which is the concentration of wealth and corporate greed in America,” Ocasio-Cortez added.
She also expressed encouragement to workers on strike and emphasized the effect their strike is having.
“Direct action gets the goods, now and always,” she said. “The only way that we can do this is by showing them that we are stronger. That our solidarity is stronger than their greed, that our care for one another will overcome their endless desire for more.”
