After publicly supporting a call from Thea Trinidad, formerly known as Zelina Vega, following her public call for unionisation, SAG-AFTRA has confirmed that they have had a “powerful conversation” with the former WWE Superstar.
SAG-AFTRA, the United States’ leading union for individuals working in the entertainment industry, tweeted from their official account of the meeting and reiterated their support for Trinidad and others who are working to protect and empower themselves. This comes after stating that they would “directly engage” with the wrestling industry regarding potential unionisation.
“Powerful conversation with Thea Trinidad @Zelina_VegaWWE today. We support her and others as they work to protect and empower themselves.”
Powerful conversation with Thea Trinidad @Zelina_VegaWWE today. We support her and others as they work to protect and empower themselves.
— SAG-AFTRA (@sagaftra) November 19, 2020
Commonly known as the Screen Actors Guild, SAG-AFTRA’s president Gabrielle Carteris previously issued a statement to Jon Alba of Spectrum Sports 360 after she and the official Screen Actors Guild Twitter account backed Vega for speaking out following her WWE release.
“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.’
It’s important to note that, despite this response coming from the fallout of WWE releasing Zelina Vega, SAG-AFTRA refer to professional wrestling as a whole and not solely WWE. Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang also publicly backed the possibility of wrestlers joining SAG-AFTRA, tweeting his support:
“Pro wrestlers joining SAG-AFTRA makes a lot of sense to me. They star in some of the highest-rated shows on TV each week.”