On 14th July, the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists( SAG-AFTRA) went on strike when they could not come to an agreement with the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers on the new labor laws.
The union has more than 160,000 members working under it, including actors, stuntmen, writers, and many other industry staff. The new labor laws agreement demands better pay, better working conditions, and threats from AI upon members’ work.
Fran Drescher, president of SAG-AFTRA, gives the reason for the strike by saying, “At some point, the jig is up. You cannot keep being dwindled and marginalized and disrespected and dishonored. The entire business model has been changed by streaming, digital, and AI. This is a moment of history. If we don’t stand tall right now, we are all going to be in trouble.”
On the other hand, Hollywood studios say they have given the union a deal worth more than a billion dollars which the SAG-AFTRA union walked away from on 12th July. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) said the union SAG-AFTRA “continues to mischaracterize the negotiations.”
AMPTP negotiated with SAG-AFTRA on the new labor laws agreement on behalf of production houses and studios like Walt Disney Co, Warner Bros Discovery Inc, Netflix Inc, and many other companies in Hollywood.
The AMPTP said in a statement, “The deal that SAG-AFTRA walked away from on 12th July is worth more than $1 billion in wage increases, pension and health contributions and residual increases and includes first-of-their-kind protections over its three-year term, including expressly with respect to AI,” and added, “For SAG-AFTRA to assert that we have not been responsive to the needs of its membership is disingenuous at best.”
SAG-AFTRA said that they asked for an 11% increase in general wages within the first year of the contract to compensate for the inflation during the pandemic period. But the studios counter offered a 5% hike.
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