John Edwards to Speak at Writers Guild Rally in New York

Democratic Presidential Candidate to Join WGA at Washington Square Park

By Linda Moss -- Multichannel News, 11/26/2007 1:15:00 PM

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards is slated to speak at the rally the striking Writers Guild of America is holding Tuesday in Manhattan, according to union officials.

The WGA East is expecting almost 1,000 people to be at its lunchtime Solidarity Rally in Washington Square Park, with Edwards on the roster as a speaker.

Also scheduled to be on hand at the demonstration are Congressman Jerry Nadler, Tim Robbins, Joe Pantoliano, Colin Quinn, Aasif Mandvi, Tony Goldwyn, Evan Handler, Gilbert Gottfried, Randi Weingarten of the United Federation of Teachers, Ed Ott of the Central Labor Council, Gary Lebarbera and Denis Hughes of the New York State AFL-CIO, Screen Actors Guild New York president Sam Freed and former national SAG president Richard Masur.

All three Democratic Presidential candidates -- Edwards, Sen. Hilary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama – have voiced their support for the WGA in its strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The strike started Nov. 5, and the writers and studios resumed talks Monday, week after negotiations broke off Nov. 4.

Edwards, Clinton and Obama last week said they will not cross picket lines if CBS News employees, who are also WGA members, go on strike. The CBS News workers have authorized a strike in their dispute with CBS. 

If there is a CBS News strike, it could put the kibosh on a Dec. 10 debate among the Democratic presidential candidates that CBS is scheduled to broadcast.