“F*** AI”: Chicago SAG-AFTRA Rally Draws Cross-Union Support

Rick Porter
·3 min read
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Pat Reidy joined a march and rally for striking actors Thursday in Chicago, holding a sign that featured a copy of a seven-cent residual check he received. Above and below the image he wrote, “Strike!!! Because this suuucks.”

The paltry check, and another one for eight cents, came from Reidy’s work on Max’s South Side, where he appeared in five episodes over three seasons. “It cost them more to mail it to me,” Reidy told The Hollywood Reporter. “We went to the negotiating table in good faith and ended up having to come here and sweat our asses off in the Chicago heat just to get people to hear us. … We have to fight every step of the way. It’s beyond frustrating to me.”

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Reidy was one of more than 1,000 SAG-AFTRA members and supporters who marched three-quarters of a mile from Millennium Park to Buckingham Fountain in downtown Chicago for a rally where guild leaders and representatives from other unions — including the Writers Guild of America, the Teamsters, the Chicago Federation of Labor and the Chicago Teachers Union — spoke in solidarity. The chairmen of labor committees in the Illinois legislature, Sen. Robert Peters and Rep. Marcus Evans, also spoke in support.

“In the state of Illinois, we give millions of dollars to producers to make movies and TV in this state,” Peters said. “They can give you a fucking contract. They can give you fucking healthcare. They can give you fucking good wages.” He then led the crowd in a chant of “Fuck AI!”

Chicago PD regular Amy Morton told THR that “the complete shunning of our demands [by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers] has been really rude.”

“All the issues that are on the table are really vital,” she continued. “Actors have never demanded that much in the history of this union. Our demands have never been outrageous. So this is just really pissing me off.”

Sydney Charles, who has appeared on Shameless and The Chi, told the crowd at the rally that the strike is about “the actor who is No. 1 on the call sheet to the actor who’s No. 101 on the call sheet.”

“Our quality of life as laborers and artists is being threatened,” Charles said. “We’re here because most of us — I think the number is 86 percent of people in this membership — do not make the $26,000 annually to afford [union] healthcare. We’re here for every person who has given themselves to the art of storytelling.”

Charles Gardner, president of SAG-AFTRA’s Chicago local, told the crowd that he sees “people who have decided to make their passion their purpose” and reiterated the union’s message of unity.

“AMPTP, y’all better get it together,” Gardner said. “Get back to the table, because Chicago is not having it. L.A. is not having it. New York is not having it. This country is not having it.”

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