SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris On Pro Wrestlers Possibly Joining The Union
This past Friday night WWE released Zelina Vega. Shortly before the announcement was made public by WWE she tweeted out, "I support unionization." The topic of WWE performers, and pro wrestlers in general, forming a union has become a hot subject in recent months.
Wrestling Inc. exclusively reported in early September that WWE had begun tightening up restrictions regarding how talent were able to engage and monetize with third party platforms, like Twitch and Cameo. Since then a variety of current and former talents have spoken out against the way the company is restricting talent when they are technically classified as "independent contractors." One Superstar, Paige, has even go so far as to tweet that she "learned a lot about unionism " on October 5.
Many fans have wondered for years, "why don't the Superstars just join SAG?" The answer to that question has become complicated but it would seem the door may be opening at the moment. Wrestling Inc. has just received the following statement from SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris regarding the issue:
"Wrestling is as much about media as it is sports, and we are going to directly engage with members of this profession to help find ways for them to protect themselves.
"As more people reinvest in unions, and as more working people are harassed by employers who don't want to protect them, SAG-AFTRA is committed to doing what we can to help professional wrestlers secure the protections they deserve."
SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris
Stay with Wrestling Inc. for the latest regarding the momentum for a pro wrestlers union. Wrestling Inc. managing editor Nick Hausman has been studying the topic of how to form a union and will be discussing the issue at length later today on our The Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast. Subscribe on your preferred podcast platform to get the episode when it is released. You can listen to the most recent episode, featuring Corner Gas' creator Brent Butt, via the embedded audio player below.