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DENVER (KDVR) – Actors and writers are still on strike as negotiations between the workers and production studios continue, but the fight goes far beyond Hollywood.
Entertainers and community members alike are asking for better wages and protections in the film and entertainment industry.
Like workers in so many industries, The Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists members from the entertainment industry are rallying, urging studios to pay workers their fair share.
“It’s just corporate versus the little man. It doesn’t matter where you are at, if you’re a mailman, whatever labor union you are in, we are fighting for everybody in this point in time,” Sonny G, president of SAG-AFTRA Colorado Local, said. “And it’s been coined with the phrase as ‘the summer of strikes’ among labor unions and we are one among the AFL-CIO and we are just so happy that we have a good turnout from everybody and all of our brothers and sisters in the sister unions and we’re just here to fight.”
Unions were not the only ones rallying. One of the most famous faces in Colorado politics, Denver mayor turned Colorado governor turned U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper came out not only to support the workers but also to urge precautionary action on artificial intelligence.
“Workers need to have a voice in their conditions and how they work,” Hickenlooper told a cheering crowd of union workers.
“America is a place where public sentiment means everything. So coming out here and just displaying here, I’m 100% behind SAG-AFTRA. I believe that AI should not take the copyright, the creative material, that all of these people helped create,” Hickenlooper said.
Though people may feel like what is happening in Hollywood does not affect them, area industry workers are asking Coloradans for support as they take up this fight.
“Our music, our stories in TV and film come into your homes so that you can laugh and cry and let go of the burdens of your day. Remember those are laborers that help put those experiences into your life on a daily level,” said SAG-AFTRA Colorado Local board member Sheila Ivy Traister.
Hickenlooper said he hopes the strike will be over in a matter of weeks. He does plan to hold a hearing on the potential impacts of AI In his data privacy subcommittee once Congress reconvenes.
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