Writers Strike Collateral Damage: Janitor Layoffs at Studios Spur Demonstration
Hundreds of janitors and supporters marched from the Sony lot to Amazon Studios on Thursday to support striking Hollywood writers and protest alleged layoffs at major entertainment companies during the ongoing work stoppage.
According to the SEIU United Service Workers West union, which organized the demonstration with the Writers Guild of America, about 50 janitors have been laid off since the work stoppage began May 2, while others have seen their hours cut. The cuts have occurred across all major studios, according to the union, though it name-checks Paramount and Radford Studio Center in particular. (The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to Radford Studio Center and Paramount for comment.)
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“We don’t know how far it’s going to go. But we felt it was important to let them [the studios] know that we’re not going to be divided, that working people have to stand together,” SEIU-USWW president David Huerta tells THR.
The entertainment business employs “upwards of several hundred” SEIU-USWW janitors, he says, as an “anchor industry” in Los Angeles. He adds, “This idea of laying off service workers as a result of the strike, in my opinion, you’re really laying off folks who can least afford it. But even though our workers are being impacted, we know the importance of standing united with these screenwriters and continuing to, as we say in our union, push forward shoulder to shoulder.”
In addition to drawing attention to the layoffs, the march observed “Justice for Janitors Day,” which memorializes the eponymous campaign that began in 1987 and has sought to improve work conditions, wages and benefits for these workers ever since. (Ken Loach’s 2000 film Bread and Roses, starring Pilar Padilla and Adrien Brody, was inspired by the movement.) SEIU-USWW also took the opportunity to spotlight its upcoming negotiations with employers, which will kick off in about six months, and will involve a fight for some usual gains (better wages and benefits) as well as reduced workloads in the name of safety. That contract applies to work performed across several industries, including entertainment.
During the near-mile march between the two entertainment campuses, SEIU-USWW union members brandished “Justice for Janitors” signs as well as those stating “Sustainable workloads = safety,” while participating in labor chants, alongside picketing WGA members. They were joined by union members playing drums and tambourines.
Once the march reached its destination, Writers Guild of America West president Meredith Stiehm addressed a sea of SEIU members in purple and yellow union shirts, first in Spanish and then in English, from a flatbed truck parked along the eastern edge of Amazon Studios’ lot in Culver City. “I know that our strike has caused you some pain, we know there have been layoffs at the studios because of our strike,” Stiehm said, adding that the union was sorry for that, and, “We don’t want anyone to be caused pain except for our employers, not you guys.” She said, “They come for us, you’re right there. They come for you, we’re right there. That’s how unions work.”
In between chants of “Sí, se puede,” Huerta also emphasized the importance of the “Justice for Janitors” campaign in changing work conditions for his members and pledged solidarity with the screenwriters. “I’m looking right now at a sea of immigrant workers who have sacrificed everything they can for a better life,” he said. “We stand together, and we like to say in our union, ‘We stand together across difference’ and we embrace it.”
One worker, Adelina Barragan, who said she had worked for studios for over 15 years, currently at the Radford Studio Center, took to the stage as well. She claimed the studio had reduced the hours of many of her co-workers and laid off some individuals within the last month. “Us as workers who are low-paid salary, we suffer, we’re the first ones to be negatively impacted,” she said.
Later, another speaker — Los Angeles Democratic Party Chair Mark Gonzalez — encouraged the writers present to speak with the SEIU-USWW members during the event and vice versa. “Make this your next story, talk to them about what they go through every single day,” he exhorted the WGA members present, which included WGA negotiating committee co-chairs Chris Keyser and David Goodman.
Over the seven weeks of the writers strike so far, a number of separate unions have shown an unusual amount of support for the WGA’s action, with top entertainment labor groups attending a rally early in the strike at the Shrine Auditorium, and with crewmembers in IATSE and in the Teamsters honoring writers picket lines. Wednesday’s rally was another example of this apparent uptick in cross-union solidarity, even as workers in other fields continue to stand to lose work and income during the strike.
Speaking with THR, Huerta noted the geographically specific nature of Thursday’s event. “Immigrant janitors standing shoulder to shoulder with writers today — for me, it was just very inspiring to see that happen. And it’s so uniquely L.A.”
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