AOC joins SAG, WGA members on picket line at Netflix in NYC

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez picked up a picket sign on Monday as she joined striking SAG-AFTRA and WGA members outside Netflix’s Union Square offices.

Members of the Writers Guild of America have been on strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers since May, and the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists started its strike against the AMPTP this month.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) joins the picket line as the SAG-AFTRA Actors Union Strike continues in front of Netflix on July 24, 2023 in New York City. (John Nacion/Getty Images)

Among other issues, both guilds have been lobbying for better residuals from streaming, better healthcare, and job protections amid the rise of artificial intelligence.

Speaking to the crowd on Monday, where she was accompanied by AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, Ocasio-Cortez called out Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav and other high-earning Hollywood executives.

“While this is a fight against AI, more than AI this is a fight against greed,” Ocasio-Cortez said, per The Hollywood Reporter. “How many private jets does David Zaslav need? For real. How many private jets do the CEOs need? It is insatiable. It is unacceptable. I do not know how any person can say I need another $100 million before another person can have health care.”

Sandra Bernhard and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are seen at the SAG-AFTRA picket lines on July 24, 2023 in New York City. (Gotham/GC Images)

The representative for New York’s 14th congressional district also talked up the “hot labor summer” and referenced a possible UPS worker strike in the weeks ahead.

“We have workers all across the country either currently on strike or gearing up to be on strike because at the end of the day we are all facing the same challenge, which is the concentration of wealth and corporate greed in America,” she said.

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, left, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, center, walk the picket line in support of the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strike on July 24, 2023 in New York City. (Raymond Hall/GC Images)

AOC also took selfies with fellow protestors, while actors Tatiana Maslany, Sandra Bernhard, and F. Murray Abraham also showed up for the Union Square demonstration.

“Direct action gets the goods, now and always,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “The only way that we can do this is by showing them that we are stronger. That our solidarity is stronger than their greed, that our care for one another will overcome their endless desire for more.”

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