SAG-AFTRA has canceled its planned picket lines in New York on Thursday and Friday due to high temperatures expected in the region.
The actors union had planned to picket at the exact four locations it has been targeting since the start of the strike: outside NBCUniversal in Midtown, in front of the Paramount offices in Times Square, outside of Netflix offices near Union Square, and front of the HBO and Amazon offices in Hudson Yards.
The Writers Guild of America East has also canceled its pickets in New York on Friday and changed the scheduling for its Thursday Comedy Writers Picket at NBCUniversal. That event will now end at 11 a.m. ET.
The National Weather Service has issued an excessive heat warning for the New York area starting at 11 a.m. ET Thursday through 9 p.m. ET Friday. The agency warns of “dangerous conditions with heat index values up to 108 expected.”
SAG-AFTRA has been picketing in New York since July 14, while WGA has been picketing since May 2. The picket lines have been consistent almost every weekday, except during the week of June 7, when WGA East canceled three days of picketing due to the wildfire smoke blanketing the region.
On Tuesday, SAG-AFTRA hosted a rally in Times Square featuring speakers such as Bryan Cranston, Christine Baranski, and Arian Moayed. At the same time, the WGA held an event to unionize East Coast animation writers. On Monday, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America members on the picket line.
