The agenda for the Culver City Council meeting on August 14, 2023, includes a motion to consider “the adoption of a statement of support for union workers currently on strike, including but not limited to the Writers Guild of America and Unite Here Local 11 [representing hotel workers.]”
With the WGA strike against the studios now clocking 100 days, there are many professionals in Culver City walking the picket lines and feeling the pinch.
The WGA negotiating committee offered that “cost of settling the WGA & SAG strikes is far less than the damage [the studio’s] intractability has caused…Ultimately, the studios have no choice but to make a fair deal. Until then we remain resolved & united.”
The hotel workers on strike have had more picketing in other cities, but hotels in Culver City are affected as well. Another protest is scheduled for August 12, 2023 at Wilshire and Ocean in Santa Monica. During a protest last week, private security attacked workers at the Fairmont Miramar who peacefully demonstrated for higher wages and better working conditions. When police were called, security guards backed off.
SAG-AFTRA has also been on strike since mid-July, and the picket lines at both Sony and Culver Studios are blocks long on a daily basis.
It’s been called “Hot Labor Summer,” and what the council decides on supporting (or not supporting) these strikes will likely be an indicator on a multitude of upcoming issues.
Judith Martin-Straw
