SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher Rips Studios, Says Public Can Help End Strike

Fran Drescher is ripping Hollywood studios, saying their negotiation strategy was all a ploy to have extra time to promote upcoming blockbusters.

We got the actress and President of SAG-AFTRA on Friday's picket line outside Netflix HQ, and she said the studios duped the union leading up to Thursday's strike.

Fran says her union was sincere in extending the strike deadline 12 days in hopes to avoid a nasty standoff ... but she's convinced the studios weren't negotiating in good faith and only wanted to use the extension to hold premieres for some upcoming flicks, like "Barbie."

Fran's not holding back ... ripping the studios' negotiating tactics as "thoughtless, insensitive and not compassionate." She says they straight-up don't care about the actors who make this whole industry go forward.

As we reported, Fran went nuclear Thursday in announcing the strike ... the union's first walkout in 43 years, with actors joining already striking writers on the picket lines.

Fran sees an end to the standoff, even though she has said both sides are far apart ... telling us the public has the power to make this whole thing go away.

The way Fran sees it ... public opinion and the way people spend their money will dictate a lot of the outcome, and she's asking folks to stand tall with the folks in front of the cameras to give them some leverage against the studios and their CEOs.