‘Sharknado 3’ Production Disrupted at White House by Union Picketers

Production of SyFy’s Sharknado 3 was disrupted Wednesday in front the White House by members of the IATSE labor union, who are demanding a union contract with standardized working conditions, in addition to pension and health benefits.

Production on the TV movie was first hit with organized labor action on March 3 in Los Angeles, reports Deadline, when about 40 members of the project’s crew walked off the job. IATSE has since promised to picket the film.

Dan Mahoney, the assistant department director for motion picture and television production for the union, has promised to maintain pressure on the film’s production: “Representatives of the IATSE and its local unions will be present whenever and wherever this production attempts to film in and around Washington, D.C.,” he told Deadline.

Mahoney aimed most of his frustrations at Sharknado 3’s producer, Asylum:

We will not forget how The Asylum treated their employees when they asked for the same union benefits and protections that were provided to the crew on Sharknado 2.

It is employees working for anti-worker companies like The Asylum who need the enforceable working conditions and protections of a union agreement the most.

Former Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann, who has a small cameo in the film, was reportedly on location Wednesday and bypassed picket lines to report for filming.

Portraying herself as a former congresswoman in the movie, Bachmann was reportedly overheard telling a reporter about Congress’s proposed reaction to the fictional shark-filled superstorm.

“I believe they are growing in size, Congress has to take this seriously,” Bachmann’s supporting character said of the phenomenon.

Sharknado 3, starring billionaire Mark Cuban and political commentator and author Ann Coulter, was originally scheduled for a July release, however sources told Deadline that due to the complications resulting from the strike, the premiere date may be pushed back.