18 July 2014, Hong Kong
Today (18 July 2014), SACOM and other local labour groups in Hong Kong answer the call from The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO), Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM) to launch an international solidarity action to demand Lionsgate to start constructive dialogues with musicians now.
Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation (hereinafter Lionsgate) has produced famous blockbusters like The Hunger Games and The Step Up series. In 2013 alone, its profit reached US$2.7 billion (HK$20.9 billion approx.). This huge profit was brought by the tremendous tax credit of US$96 million from US taxpayers! However, backstage production crew is not getting any benefit from it at all.
Lionsgate offshores film scoring jobs to maximise its profit. This is not only influential to US musicians; the labour rights of overseas musicians are also being exploited. Musicians in the States have been requesting to have a constructive dialogue with Lionsgate yet the company never listens!
Backstage production crew contributes their best to making the billion dollars profit of Lionsgate. We thus demand Lionsgate to respond to musicians and start constructive dialogues with them immediately. At the same time, Lionsgate should ensure that production crew around the world would be protected by appropriate labour protection and getting a reasonable payment.
This action is one of the global solidarity actions. Earlier in June 2014, Canadian supporters also staged a action to support US musicians. For more details, please refer to http://listenupnow.org/, twitter.com/listenupnow1, facebook.com/listenupnow1.
Initiated by
Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (SACOM)
Supported by
Asia Monitor Resource Centre
Globalization Monitor
Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions
ITUC/GUF Hong Kong Liaison Office
Labour Action China
Worker Empowerment
Labour Education and Service Network
