UPDATED with AMPTP statement, 01:07 AM: Contract negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP broke down tonight and the guild’s national board will meet Thursday morning to formally authorize the start of a strike.
It will be the first actors’ strike against the film and television industry since 1980 and the first time that actors and writers have gone on strike simultaneously since 1960, when Ronald Reagan was President of the Screen Actors Guild. The pickets are scheduled to begin Friday morning.
Here is SAG-AFTRA’s full statement:
SAG-AFTRA’s television/theatre/streaming deals have expired without a successor agreement.
After more than four weeks of negotiations, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) — the entity representing major studios and streamers including Amazon, Apple, Disney, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount, Sony and Warner Bros. Discovery — remains non-existent ready to offer a fair deal on the key issues that are essential to SAG-AFTRA members.
In light of the AMPTP’s intransigence and delaying tactics, SAG-AFTRA’s bargaining committee voted unanimously to recommend the National Board strike the TV/theater/streaming contracts between producers and SAG-AFTRA, which expired on July 12, 2023 at 11:00 a.m. 59 a.m. expired p.m. PT.
The National Board of SAG-AFTRA will vote on a strike Thursday morning.
SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said: “SAG-AFTRA negotiated in good faith and sought to reach an agreement that adequately addressed the needs of artists, but the AMPTP’s reactions to the union’s key proposals were abusive and disrespectful of our massive contributions to it.” Industry. On some issues, the companies refused to get involved in a meaningful way, on others they blocked us completely. Unless they negotiate in good faith, we cannot reach an agreement. We have no choice but to move forward together and on behalf of our members with a strike recommendation to our National Executive. The board will discuss the issue this morning and make its decision.”
National Managing Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said: “The studios and streamers have made massive unilateral changes to our industry’s business model while insisting that our deals be kept on hold.” That’s not how you treat a valued, respected partner and key contributor . Your refusal to meaningfully engage with our key proposals and basic disrespect for our members has brought us to this point. Studios and streamers have underestimated the determination of our members, as you are about to fully discover.”
The union will hold a press conference at 12 noon PT today, Thursday, July 13, at the SAG-AFTRA Plaza in Los Angeles after the National Board vote concludes.
The AMPTP issued this statement just after 1 a.m. PT:
“We are deeply disappointed that SAG-AFTRA has decided to end negotiations. That is the Union’s decision, not ours. In so doing, she turned down our offers of historic pay and residual increases, significantly higher pension and health insurance caps, audition protections, shortened option periods for series, a groundbreaking AI proposal that protects actors’ digital likenesses, and much more. Rather than continue to negotiate, SAG-AFTRA has put us on a course that will exacerbate the financial hardship for thousands who depend on the industry for their livelihoods.”
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The Writers Guild strike is now in its 73rd day and there is no end in sight. However, many striking writers have called for SAG-AFTRA to go on strike with them to show their union solidarity and force the studios to return to the negotiating table and their demands for a larger share of the profits their work generates earned to recognize .
The guild’s contract was originally scheduled to expire on June 30th, but has been extended to July 12th to allow negotiations to continue.
The strike will shut down films and scripted TV shows that employ SAG-AFTRA members not only in the United States but around the world. Exceptions are soap operas, which fall under a separate contract. According to the Guild Global Rule #1: “No member shall provide services, or enter into any agreement to provide services, to any employer who has not entered into a minimum basic agreement with the union which, in each jurisdiction in which it exists, shall be in is fully in force and effective.” A national SAG-AFTRA collective agreement exists. This provision applies worldwide.”
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On Tuesday, SAG-AFTRA agreed to the companies’ proposal to use a federal arbitrator in a last-ditch effort to stave off a strike, but prospects for a deal dimmed when the association issued a strongly worded statement saying it was “Not sure if that’s the case.” Employers intend to negotiate a settlement.”
Surprised by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers’ penultimate proposal for federal arbitration and its insistence not to agree to a further contract extension, the guild said: “The AMPTP has betrayed our trust and the respect we have for them, damaged.” procedure. We will not be swayed by this cynical ploy to secure an extension when the companies have had more than enough time to strike a fair deal.”
On June 5, guild members voted 98% to authorize a strike if a fair settlement could not be reached. The decision to strike comes nearly three weeks after Directors Guild members overwhelmingly ratified their own new contract, and against the backdrop of a grassroots campaign urging SAG-AFTRA to stay strong at the negotiating table and “stand by the WGA.” join the picket”. ” if a major “reorientation of our industry” cannot succeed. More than 1,700 actors, including many prominent SAG-AFTRA members, recently signed a letter to guild leaders saying they would “rather go on strike” and “join the WGA on the picket line” than in compromise on important issues.
The letter, which SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher also signed, said: “This is an unprecedented turning point in our industry and what might have been good business in other years just isn’t enough.” that our wages, our trades, our creative freedom and the power of our union have been eroded over the past decade. We have to reverse this trend.”
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Drescher, chairman of the guild’s negotiating committee, was heavily criticized earlier this week Deadline was first to report that she flew to Italy during the final week of negotiations, where she was photographed with Kim Kardashian at Dolce & Gabbana’s Alta Moda runway show. Drescher returned to Los Angeles just in time for the last two days of the hearing.
SAG-AFTRA explained that Drescher “worked as a brand ambassador for Dolce and Gabbana locally in Italy.” The negotiating committee was fully aware of this obligation. She was in negotiations every day in person or via video conference. Managing a physically demanding schedule across three time zones, President Drescher oversees negotiations and works on the ground daily, as well as attending to the needs of her parents in Florida. She is returning to the states and will be in LA tomorrow and will continue to lead our negotiations.”
Before contract negotiations began on June 7, SAG-AFTRA laid out some of its key negotiation issues, including “economic fairness, remaining balances, regulating the use of artificial intelligence, and alleviating the burdens of the industry-wide move toward self-negotiation.”
Regarding economic justice, the guild said, “Outdated contract terms coupled with the evolution of the media business, including shorter seasonal orders and longer breaks between seasons, make it increasingly difficult for our members to achieve and maintain a middle-class lifestyle while working as a performer.” In stark contrast to the declining compensation of our members, the studios are seeing huge profits with optimistic prospects, as evidenced by the lavish executive compensation.
“SAG-AFTRA is committed to enabling our members to make a living performing scripted live-action dramatic entertainment. That means ensuring higher compensation for our members at work, strengthening the funding of our healthcare, retirement and pension plans, and giving our members a meaningful share of the economic value of their services.”
Regarding the residuals, the guild said, “While new business models result in more and more SAG-AFTRA content being monetized around the world, the residual payments do not reflect the economic value of this exhibition.” SAG-AFTRA is committed to ensuring that the residual payments are both reflect the economic value of our members’ contribution as well as serve as a meaningful revenue stream for artists.
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Regarding AI, the guild said: “Artificial intelligence has already proven to be a real and imminent threat to our members’ work and can mimic members’ voices, likenesses and performance.” We need to reach agreement on acceptable uses, safeguards against abuse Negotiate and ensure approval and fair compensation for using your work to train AI systems and create new deliverables. In their public statements and their political work, the companies have not shown the will to take seriously the fundamental rights of our members to our own voice and our image.”
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Self-recorded auditions, meanwhile, are “unregulated and out of control,” the guild said. “Too many pages, too little time, and unreasonable demands have made self-taping auditions a massive, daily, undiminishing burden on artists’ lives.” Proper rules and restrictions, as well as access to other casting formats, are badly needed to ensure a ensure fair access to job opportunities and protect artists from exploitation.”
The guild also said that “many other important issues, including those related to specific careers and categories, are also on the agenda.”