William Stanford Davis has been appearing for many years but receives a pittance of residuals.

“I’ve been a display screen actor for 35 years. I’ve been within the guild about 32 years and I’ll let this converse for itself,” the Abbott Elementary star, 71, stated in a Friday, July 21, Instagram video, wherein he held up a residual paycheck.

Davis, who portrays custodian Mr. Johnson on the ABC sitcom, revealed that he earned a complete sum of $0.05 for an undisclosed rerun of a previous TV present he appeared on. “You see that? Are you able to consider that? That’s [five] cents,” he added. “The postage, the paper, all the things prices greater than that. That’s what they consider us as actors. Because of this we’re on strike for higher wages, for higher residuals [and] for a bit of the subscription and to not give in to AI.”

Fran Drescher, the president of the SAG-AFTRA union, introduced earlier this month that the board licensed a strike after the Alliance of Movement Image and Tv Producers (AMPTP) didn’t comply with any of their phrases throughout contract negotiations. The guild — which represents unionized TV and movie actors in the USA — is in search of honest compensation when it comes to salaries and residual quantities in addition to particular pointers relating to different points, together with using synthetic intelligence of performers’ likenesses.

Drescher, 65, later informed CBS Mornings on Wednesday, July 19, that the negotiations have stalled because the strike started. “I want we’d be speaking to the opposite facet,” the Nanny alum claimed. “We stated we’d begin speaking to them instantly, however they’re punishing us. They don’t need to speak to us, so, oh properly, you already know, they complained [the strike] goes to close down the enterprise however they don’t come to the desk. … I believe stonewalling is their most well-liked method. That’s what we’re up in opposition to.”

William Stanford Davis Courtesy of William Stanford Davis/Instagram

Many actors have since joined the picket traces in each Los Angeles and New York Metropolis to point out their assist, whereas others have shared their residuals as additional proof of why they’re putting.

“Ours is a fickle trade and in my 20+ years of being a performer, my profession has ebbed and flowed. I’ve had very lean years the place I couldn’t get a job and people are exactly the moments when in years previous, actors might depend on residuals from their previous work to assist them get by,” Mandy Moore wrote through her Instagram on Wednesday, noting she’s obtained checks for $0.81 for repeat viewings of the Emmy-winning hit drama This Is Us. “The world and enterprise have modified and I’m hoping we will discover a significant resolution shifting ahead.”

Davis, for his half, famous on Friday that he’s putting “till we get what we have to make a dwelling as actors.”

He additionally captioned his put up: “There ain’t nothing humorous a couple of .03¢ residual examine! What are we speculated to do with that?”