SHE SAID IT!

It’s a morale booster to read or hear non-AFSCME people say about our core issues what we ourselves keep saying — and to do so in plain, forceful language. Here is one such person, film mega-star and Academy Award winner Julia Roberts. She talked about striker solidarity in an interview published in the March 9 issue of Entertainment Weekly. Question: "What do you think of the looming actors’ strike?"

Answer: "The problem is that the public’s perception of actors is ... people who are working and get paid ridiculous amounts of money. That’s what you see on TV when they say that actors are striking. And people in Ohio say, ‘What the... are they striking for? How much money do they want?’ But they don’t realize it’s a huge union, and an enormous amount of people who rely on much smaller paychecks aren’t getting paid what they deserve, and they need the benefits.

"That’s really what the strike is about. That’s what people need to be constantly reminded of. We will strike together as a union to support one another."