Actors' Unions Not Backing Occupy Wall Street

Labor organizations are beginning to flock to the Occupy Wall Street protest movement, but the big three actors' unions are keeping their distance. Yesterday, after the Writers Guild of America West issued a statement of support for the movement, Back Stage reached out to the Screen Actors Guild, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and Actors' Equity Association to ask whether those unions planned to also endorse the protests. None of the union representatives who responded offered outright support for the movement.

"Our membership includes people from across the political spectrum who actively pursue their individual beliefs and interests on issues like this," Pamela Greenwalt, spokesperson for SAG—which is currently engaged in talks to merge with AFTRA—said in a written statement. "As always, our efforts are focused on protecting the working families who rely on our contracts to make a living. Right now we're concentrating those efforts on merging with our sister union, AFTRA, which will give us an even better ability to protect members."

According The New York Times, members of the AFL-CIO's executive council held a conference call Wednesday and voted unanimously to support Occupy Wall Street. Tom Carpenter, AFTRA's general counsel and director of legislative and public affairs, addressed the overlap between protesters' and labor unions' concerns in his own written response to the Occupy Wall Street question.

"Although AFTRA has not endorsed the Occupy Wall Street protests, we are supportive of the AFL-CIO's work on the underlying issues related to jobs and the economy," Carpenter said. "Additionally, AFTRA is actively pursuing our own narrowly tailored legislative agenda to create work opportunities for our members in areas like non-compete bans for broadcasters, supporting production incentive legislation, and fighting the digital theft of our members' work online."

Mary McColl, executive director of Actors' Equity Association—which just announced this week that it had reached tentative agreement with the Broadway League on a new Production Contract, covering Broadway and national touring productions—also responded in writing.

"Actors' Equity Association firmly believes in an individual's right to free speech and to express one's beliefs through peaceful public demonstrations," McColl said. "Equity strives, through its collective bargaining and legislative work, to ensure the rights of its members and firmly supports the creation of jobs, better education, and the welfare of performing artists, their families, and all middle-class Americans."

Demonstrators have been gathered in Lower Manhattan for nearly three weeks to protest corporate greed and financial inequality, and in recent days they have inspired satellite protests in cities across the country. On Wednesday, labor unions—including the Writers Guild of America East and the American Federation of Musicians—joined New York protesters in a march through downtown.