Saturday Night Live Post Production Crew Plans Strike

A group of Saturday Night Live’s post-production staff plans to strike next month. The strike comes after failure to reach an agreement with NBCUniversal. The group plans to walk out on April 1 in a strike to push for better pay and health benefits.

The group consists of around 20 crew members who edit the pre-filmed stretches for SNL. Negotiations have been between the studio and the Motion Picture Editors Guild, IATSE Local 700. The guild made proposals to NBCU in December. NBCU responded to those proposals on January 13, but the guild has now found the offer unacceptable.

In October, the post-production group first won union recognition pursuant to a card-check agreement with NBCUniversal. An arbitrator independently verified that most employees chose union representation.

The Motion Picture Editors Guild said that the team was s “paid far below industry standards” and received a fraction of what their union counterparts were making.

Alan Heim, ACE, president of the Motion Picture Editors Guild, said, “Strikes are not funny, and it’s also not funny that NBCU is driving us to take this step to guarantee fair pay and benefits for our members.”

“The season is almost over. Not only is NBCU saying no to the union’s reasonable proposals – by offering annual increases that lag behind industry standards, they’re pushing for a deal that ignores the soaring cost of living and moves the crew backward in future years,” the guild said. “NBCU claims they, too, want to reach an agreement. But we’re nearing the end of the season, and talks drag on.”

The guild also added that that show “refused to show SNL’s post crew the respect they deserve” and “NBCU wants to shut us up, so we will yell louder.”

Several actors on the show have shown support for the post-crew team members, including notably James Austin Johnson. Cast members showed their support at the end of the February 4th show by wearing “Contract Now” t-shirts.

In its long history, Saturday Night Live has never had a show-specific strike.

Representatives for NBCU were not immediately available for comment.