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Yesterday, the National Board of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) unanimously agreed that members of the most prominent performers’ guild in the US should vote in favor of a strike if negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) fail next month. That means if studios refuse to offer fair wages and protection to SAG-AFTRA members, actors will soon join the writers in a nationwide strike.
At the beginning of this month, the Writers Guild of America began a nationwide strike for fair wages after the AMPTP failed to negotiate better working conditions for the people who help the wheels of Hollywood turn. As a result, dozens of TV shows have already been impacted, with Hollywood risking a total freeze if the matter is not resolved soon. Now, studios have another reason to give writers the fair wages they are asking for, as actors might quickly join the fight.
The WGA members voted in favor of a strike after a long period of negotiation in which the AMPTP ignored the worker’s issues. To avoid the same thing from happening in the upcoming talks between SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP, the National Board of the guild has already signaled to its members that a strike is possible if negotiations go south. As SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said in her statement to the membership, “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!’”
Why Are Actors Renegotiating Their Contracts?
While Hollywood’s biggest stars make a lot of money, more than 160,000 entertainment and media professionals are affiliated with the SAG-AFTRA, many working at the bottom of the Hollywood food chain. That means thousands of workers are struggling to make a living when faced with a rise in inflation and the lack of fair compensation derived from the changes in the industry caused by the streaming era. So, like the writers, actors are asking studios to pay their workers fairly. That shouldn’t be hard since, during the economic crisis, Hollywood’s big entertainment companies keep reporting record profits.
Instead of trying to negotiate a deal with the AMPTP and then discussing the possibility of a strike, SAG-AFTRA has decided to bring the potential of actors leaving the set to the table. Considering how the AMPTP refused to negotiate with the WGA, the actor’s syndicate is not wrong, as they need every leverage they can get to be listened to by the studios. So, while it’s still too soon to tell if the SAG-AFTRA will go on strike, the AMPTP should be careful about how it treats its workers. Otherwise, there will be no possibility to keep the production of movies and TV shows in just a few weeks.
Negotiations between the SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP begin on June 7. Collider will keep reporting on the latest industry developments.
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