California Gov. Gavin Newsom says he’s feeling “encouraged” about the outcome of the Hollywood strike after speaking to representatives of the Writers Guild of America and Hollywood studios last week, and that another meeting has been set for “later this week.”
“I was talking to the WGA and members of the studios over the last week. We’re going to be meeting later this week,” Newsom told CNN’s Dana Bash in an interview that aired Monday night.
You can watch the whole interview at the top of the page. The conversation turns to the strike about four minutes in.
The topic came up after Bash asked Newsom for his opinions on the auto workers’ strike — he expressed strong support for them. After explaining that he’s trying to thread the needle of working with both sides of the Hollywood strike, Newsom told Bash, “I’m encouraged by the conversations over this last weekend, [but] I’m not going to overstate that. And I’m encouraged that they’re meeting later this week.”
Newsome said he “absolutely” supports SAG-AFTRA and WGA, referring to “their existential stress” over the issues that ultimately led the two guilds to go on strike.
“That anxiety stacked upon all the stress and anxiety that we’ve all been feeling around income and wealth disparities and all the challenges post-pandemic that we’ve gone through makes a perfect stew of stress that’s leading to a lot of anxiety that we’re experiencing all across the country,” he said.
“I believe in collective bargaining, I believe working families and the working poor do better when they organize together,” he added.
But for those wondering, Newsom didn’t commit to signing SB799, the bill passed by both houses of the California legislature this month that if signed into law will give unemployment benefits to striking workers.
The governor argued that the bill “won’t impact the WGA strike” because it goes into effect in January — presumably he is of the belief the Hollywood strike will be over before then. Newsom also expressed concerns about “unfunded liability, which is north of $18 million.” Newsom did assert that he’ll “take a look at that,” before repeating that there is “no direct correlation” to the current strike.
For all of TheWrap’s WGA strike coverage, read here.
