Drescher Says Clooney's Plan to End Strike Won't Work

SAG-AFTRA union president Fran Drescher says a proposal from George Clooney and a group of other A-listers to help end the actors' strike is "extremely generous"—but it's not going to work. In a Zoom meeting earlier this week between union leaders and actors including Clooney, Scarlett Johansson, and Tyler Perry, the actors proposed lifting a cap on union dues for the highest earners, giving the union more money to fund health benefits and other issues the union and studios have been unable to agree on Deadline reports. In a video posted on Instagram Thursday evening, Drescher said that's just not how things work.

"We are a federally regulated labor union and the only contributions that can go into our pension and health funds must be from the employer," Drescher said, per the Hollywood Reporter. "So what we are fighting for in terms of benefits has to remain in this contract." She added that it's "kind of apples and oranges, just so everybody understands that." Actors currently don't pay union dues on earnings over $1 million. In the Tuesday meeting, they said lifting the cap would raise $150 million over three years. They also proposed changing how residual payments are distributed to ensure that lower-paid actors get paid first. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers broke off talks last week.

"Although we appreciate the effort and the desire to be supportive to all the member body, we at the union and with the negotiating committee are still waiting for the CEOs to return to the table so we can continue our talks," Drescher said. The strike will reach the 100-day mark on Saturday. The biggest problem with the A-listers' proposals is that actors are "on strike to increase actors' income, not to increase the funding of the union," writes Gene Maddaus at Variety.

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While the proposals "appear to be motivated by a sincere desire to bring an end to the strike," Maddaus writes, the union sees it as weakening unity. "It also suggests that high-earning actors should somehow step in to pay for things that the studios have refused to pay for—thereby lessening the pressure on the studios to pony up." He says a "person close to the talks" suggested that the best way for the A-listers to help would be to join a picket line. (More actors strike stories.)