The Volunteers on a Mission to Protect Strikers From the Heat
No pickets in the Valley today as L.A. hits 100 degrees (hot labor summer, literally)
Nearly every time I’ve stopped by the Warner Bros. picket since the SAG-AFTRA strike started on July 14, I’ve noticed a little stand outside Gate 2 on Olive Ave., replete with sunscreen, water, ice, deodorant and other bits and bobs.
Some days I’ve noticed its commandeer, Erin Bark (she/they), handing out spritzes of sunscreen to sweaty strikers. On another day, they’re patching up a pair of jeans — Bark noticed a picketer had, to paraphrase, ripped himself a new one, and offered to sew it up. (He did not drop trou then and there, but brought back the denim at a later date.) On an early August morning, they are removing a splinter from a little girl’s finger and soothing it with a cube of ice.
All of these munitions are paid for out of pocket by Bark and partner Mischa Stanton (xe/they), who usually station themselves outside Warners.
“We came out the first day that SAG came out [to strike] to support our actor friends, and then noticed that there was no medic,” Bark tells me. “And that really freaked us out. We’re both disabled. Sometimes you just need somebody there who has the skills, and since we have them and we’re not very good at walking the line — hence all of this fun stuff.”
Bark, who along with Stanton are pre-IATSE, has taken an EMT course but does not officially have certification. “We’re mostly just moms to our friends,” they say. The pair want to “make sure everybody has cold water, and ice pack, a towel, a place to rest if you need it, Band-Aids, common meds.”
The Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA have closed all pickets in the Valley (Disney, Warner Bros., Radford, NBCUniversal) on Monday and Tuesday on account of the 100-degree heatwave. The rest of the week will still be pretty hot, though by Thursday temperatures are expected to sink into the comparatively manageable 80s.
Bark has a few tips for staying cool on the lines.
“Please remember to soak your shoulders down [with water],” they say. “It will keep you cooler. Get bandanas, towels, whatever you can for the back of your neck and soak them down. If you start to feel really dizzy and you notice that you’re not sweating as much, please sit down. Untie your shoes. Put an ice pack between your thighs. Anything that you can do until a medic gets there to check you out. Please do not fall down on the lines; it is dangerous.”
Bark also suggests using deodorant on thighs and other friction-prone areas — “between your boobs, under your rolls” — as a skin-protection measure. (Runners sometimes use specialized anti-chafing sticks for the same purpose.)
Stanton and Bark have spent a few hundred dollars of their own money on supplies so far, but occasionally receive donations of sunscreen and other items. They intend to keep showing up until the strike(s) end.
“Everybody’s having a hard time with their finances right now,” says Bark. “We just want to be able to help how we can and when we can.”
Here’s Bark talking about the supplies that strikers can expect to see at their stand:
Today in Strike News
Normally in the shadows, AMPTP chief negotiator Carol Lombardini is in the spotlight as writers and actors have pilloried her with taunts on the picket lines and a fake Twitter account in her name. “Carol has one of the most complicated jobs in Hollywood — and it’s growing even more so — but I think she clearly understands and appreciates the challenge,” says former WB chair Barry M. Meyer. (New York Times)
California U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee joined a picket line in solidarity with the strikes recently, and in a wide-spanning profile declared her support for the strike: “People deserve to have fair wages. They deserve to have health care. They deserve to be able to take care of their families. The unions are fighting for what’s right and to ensure that they are treated justly and fairly. It is important to me to stand in solidarity with the actors and writers because corporations are making billions off their brilliance. And it is essential that the people who make our entertainment possible have a say in how technology like A.I. is used when it affects them so dramatically.” (The Hollywood Reporter)
VFX workers at Walt Disney Studios have filed with the National Labor Relations Board for an election to unionize, following Marvel’s VFX crews doing the same earlier this month. (Variety)
Theatrical Film Symposium, “USC’s most popular elective for over 50 years,” typically courts A-list guest speakers, but the strike has likely put the kibosh on those appearances for the time being this semester. (USC Annenberg Media)
Additional reporting in Today in Strike News by Matthew Frank.
Disclosure: Elaine Low is an inactive member of SAG-AFTRA.
I'm sorry but the IA and 399 crews regularly work in this heat and we do it all day long. We work in the rain, snow, freezing cold, and dead of night without complaining. The writers want to be on set? This is your first taste - earn the respect of the crew that decided to support you by not to crossing the lines. Lest you forget, they were actually responsible for shutting down this town; it was never going to happen with writers alone. Yet the WGA continues to wax poetic about their similarities to labor movements in history while conveniently ignoring that their style of picketing is merely a costume party homage to what they think it might have looked like. Let's call it what it is, the "Brunch Picket" - only half days, never when it's too hot or chance of rain, and let's throw in plenty of 3 day weekends.