The national board for the 160,000-member actor’s union, SAG-AFTRA, has decided to order a strike authorisation vote, and the leadership body has unanimously agreed on the measure.
Though this does not trigger a strike, if union members vote in favour of the authorisation, union leadership can call a work stoppage if necessary during the upcoming talks and negotiations with studios and streamers.
The move is seen as a bid to improve leverage going into negotiations with employers. Voting will close by June 5th ahead of negotiations scheduled to commence on June 7th.
Those talks come ahead of the union’s contract expiring on June 30th. SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher said in a statement:
“For the first time in a very long time, our member leadership stands in solidarity at the negotiating committee and the National Board levels on moving forward with a strike authorization. We must get all our ducks in a row should the need present itself. The prospect of a strike is not a first option but a last resort. As my dad always says, ‘Better to have and not need than to need and not have!”
The last time SAG-AFTRA went on strike was in 2000, when a work stoppage lasted six months. There are multiple issues on the table this time regarding inflation, streaming compensation, shortened TV seasons with extended hiatuses, and quickly building concerns regarding artificial intelligence (A.I.) and its regulation.
Source: Sagaftra.org, THR
