Tracy Spiridakos and Jesse Lee Soffer Explain the Importance of Striking: ‘It’s a Watershed Moment’

CHICAGO P.D. star Tracy Spiridakos and CPD vet Jesse Lee Soffer hit up the picket line to show their support for the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike on Thursday, August 31 at the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank. (The lot also served as the setting for a SUPERNATURAL reunion; Spiridakos appeared in an episode of The CW drama early in her career and worked with SUPERNATURAL creator Eric Kripke on REVOLUTION.)

“It’s important to stand in solidarity with our union, and to show how important it is,” Spiridakos tells Give Me My Remote. “And [to] get attention to what’s happening.”

“It’s a watershed moment, where I think we need to support unions and support workers,” Soffer adds. “Like, we’re fighting for really simple human needs, like health care and stuff like that. And there’s no better cause to get up and do a couple of miles on the street.”

With the writers’ strike reaching four months and the actors’ strike in its second month, Spiridakos expressed hope that “everything gets resolved soon. That would be great.”

“We need resolution soon,” Soffer adds. “We people want to get back to work. And it’s a hard time for everybody that’s in the industry that isn’t a writer or an actor. My sister’s a grip on a show that I used to work on, and she’s out of work right now; she’s struggling to make ends meet, as are thousands of other people that are impacted by this strike.”

“But I think these unions have the support of those workers, as well, because this impacts everyone,” he continues. “These issues impact everyone, and they will continue to, until something changes.”

In the meantime, Soffer urges fans to get involved from afar. “Spread awareness,” he says. “Especially with the shows that we’ve worked on, we have huge fan bases that really support our casts. And the best way to support us is to post and put the word out. Get it out there on your own social media, so that it’s not just a California or a Los Angeles issue—it becomes a national thing. Everyone should know about what we’re fighting for, for the union workers.”

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• The Teams Behind LAW & ORDER: ORGANIZED CRIME and FBI: MOST WANTED Explain Why They’re Supporting the WGA and SAG-AFTRA Strikes: ‘It Is a Fight For Our Lives’
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