20 Years Later, Actors Wrestle With Legacy of Divisive Six-Month Commercials Strike

There are two big factions among the 160,000 members of SAG-AFTRA, and they have rarely, if ever, gotten along, even in the eight years since SAG and AFTRA merged into a single union.

No event exemplifies the deep divide within SAG-AFTRA like the 2000 commercials strike, which lasted six months and ended 20 years ago this week.William Daniels, the Emmy-winning actor known for “St.

Elsewhere” and “Boy Meets World,” was the face of the strike as SAG president at the time.

He was so bitter at enemies that emerged during the work stoppage that when his term ended in 2001 he vowed to never set foot again in SAG’s Wilshire Boulevard headquarters.But in an interview last month with Variety, Daniels said he would do it all again if he could go back in time.“Nobody cared about commercial actors and people who were not commercial actors did not have an understanding of their issues,

Read full article