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In a moment we’ve come full circle: SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher is holding a press conference at 2 p.m. today in the James Cagney Boardroom of the guild’s Wilshire Boulevard headquarters, the same location where she gave her speech initiating the strike Troops cheered on July 13th.
She will be joined by National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland and members of the Television/Cinema Negotiations Committee to announce the results of today’s National Board vote on the tentative agreement reached with the studios on Wednesday and details of the agreement to discuss.
A procedural note: Although the board will most likely approve the pact and the strike was declared over at 12:01 a.m. PT on Thursday, the agreement still needs to be ratified by a vote of SAG’s full membership in the coming weeks.
You can watch the press conference in the player below.
Here’s what we know about the agreement so far, based on the guild’s announcement on Wednesday:
“With a contract valued at over $1 billion, we have reached a deal of exceptional scope that includes above-average minimum compensation increases, unprecedented consent and indemnification provisions to protect members from the threat of AI. and is introducing a streaming participation bonus for the first time. Our pension and health caps have been significantly increased, which will add much-needed value to our plans. “In addition, the agreement includes numerous improvements across multiple categories, including outsized compensation increases for background artists and important contract provisions to protect diverse communities.”
The AMPTP issued the following statement on Wednesday:
“This tentative agreement represents a new paradigm. It provides SAG-AFTRA with the largest contractual gains in the union’s history, including the largest minimum wage increase in the last forty years; a new residual for streaming programs; comprehensive consent and compensation protection when using artificial intelligence; and significant contract increases for items across the board.”