1,000 signatures reached
To: SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, Teamsters, DGA, AMPTP
Adopt flexible COVID protocols to protect cast and crew.
We are currently in the midst of a massive new covid wave - the first real wave since the ending of our joint Back to Work COVID protocols and we are seeing:
Waves of unidentified illnesses moving through cast and crew.
A paralysis of production to apply for permission to enact protocols independently
A loss of crew and cast to illness impacting production.
An atmosphere of unease as many feel they are being put in a position of doing their work while risking harm to self and possibly taking an acquired illness home (in December, for the holidays) to infect family.
We know that protocols such as testing on set, masking, and zone isolation work and allow us to do our jobs with greater confidence and minimal inconvenience leading to a healthier work environment and fewer production delays. These protocols can be dependent, as they were during phase out, on an agreed threshold of community illness levels but what we doing know is that working with NO protocols in a major wave of illness is not sustainable and is dispiriting to cast and crew.
We demand that the combined film/tv production unions and the AMPTP establish a new set of Transmissible Disease Protocols to jointly enact when community transmission levels, wastewater monitoring, or hospitalizations indicate an increase in risk to health and safety on set from communicable disease.
Waves of unidentified illnesses moving through cast and crew.
A paralysis of production to apply for permission to enact protocols independently
A loss of crew and cast to illness impacting production.
An atmosphere of unease as many feel they are being put in a position of doing their work while risking harm to self and possibly taking an acquired illness home (in December, for the holidays) to infect family.
We know that protocols such as testing on set, masking, and zone isolation work and allow us to do our jobs with greater confidence and minimal inconvenience leading to a healthier work environment and fewer production delays. These protocols can be dependent, as they were during phase out, on an agreed threshold of community illness levels but what we doing know is that working with NO protocols in a major wave of illness is not sustainable and is dispiriting to cast and crew.
We demand that the combined film/tv production unions and the AMPTP establish a new set of Transmissible Disease Protocols to jointly enact when community transmission levels, wastewater monitoring, or hospitalizations indicate an increase in risk to health and safety on set from communicable disease.
Why is this important?
We all want to work but we want to work safely and with confidence that our health is not being sacrificed to do that work. Ignoring illness because it may only minimally impact some workers is not in the spirit of our industry where our unions and producers work collaboratively. We can reduce the impact of illnesses such as COVID, Flu RSV, and Pneumonia from impacting production schedules and our health by enacting simple health protocols, when warranted, that were used in the COVID pandemic.