The SAG-AFTRA Building in Los Angeles.
Michael Buckner/PMC
SAG-AFTRA has agreed to include a state placement agency in ongoing negotiations with studios and streamers — but declines to extend those talks beyond July 12.
In a clearly worded statement Tuesday night, the union said: “We will not be dissuaded from negotiating in good faith to reach a fair and equitable deal by the time our agreement expires.” It added: “We are in the negotiation process.” committed and will examine and exhaust all possible possibilities for an agreement. However, we are not convinced that the employers have any intention of negotiating an agreement.”
The announcement comes just hours after it was revealed that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) has requested services from the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service, the federal agency tasked with helping resolve labor disputes. The request came after several senior executives, including Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav, Disney Entertainment co-chairs Dana Walden and Alan Bergman, called on Monday the idea of federal intervention had addressed, reported confirmed. The decision appeared to be a last-minute attempt to salvage and/or prolong negotiations.
But in its statement Monday, SAG-AFTRA threw cold water on what it described as a deliberate disclosure to Variety earlier in the day that allegedly “came from the CEOs and their ‘anonymous sources’ before our negotiators were even informed.” Please mediate.” The union added: “The AMPTP has betrayed our trust in this process and damaged the respect we have for them.” than had enough time to make a fair deal.”
As the clock ticks down to the current expiry date of the television/theater contracts at 11:59pm on Wednesday, the union has had a strike approval vote to call a strike as early as Thursday. The union reiterated that fact in Tuesday’s statement: “Time is running out,” said SAG-AFTRA.
Since June 7, the two parties have been negotiating a new three-year deal covering around 160,000 union members, with both agreeing to an extension on June 30 to keep discussions going. At the start of the talks, union president Fran Drescher and national manager and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland commented cheerfully on the discussions, calling them “hugely productive”, while on 30 June the union’s TV/Theater Bargaining Committee detailed the timetable for the extension to be agreed “to pursue every opportunity to obtain the just contract which we all demand and deserve.”
Tuesday’s statement marks a clear shift in tone from the union on the state of its relationship with studios and streamers. The statement is also in line with the important preparations the union has been making in recent days in anticipation of a possible strike. On Monday, senior SAG-AFTRA executives met with major public relations firms and hundreds of agents to discuss how a possible strike might play out and rules for members. An agent who participated in the representatives’ conference call Monday said of the tone of SAG-AFTRA leaders towards a possible strike: “They didn’t speak in conditional sentences.”