SAG-AFTRA members voted to ratify a preliminary agreement that ended a 118-day strike by actors.
In the contest, which ended Tuesday night, 78.33 percent voted for the contract and 21.67 percent voted against it, with a turnout of 38.15 percent. Since the participants have given the green light to the deal, the new agreement will take effect retroactively to June 9 and will be extended until June 30, 2026.
“This contract is a huge win for working artists and marks the beginning of a new era in the industry. It has been a truly collective effort to get to this point,” union president Fran Drescher and Irish national executive Duncan Crabtree said in a joint statement to members on Tuesday night.
Drescher added in her own statement: “SAG-AFTRA members have remained incredibly engaged throughout this process, and I know they will continue their support during our next round of negotiations. This is a golden age for SAG-AFTRA and our union has no way been stronger.”
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represented major Hollywood studios and streamers in the negotiations, welcomed SAG-AFTRA in its own statement Tuesday night. The new contract represents” major earnings and protections for players,” the association said.” Thanks to this vote, the assiduity and the jobs it supports will be suitable to bounce back.”
The new three-year contract, valued by the union at more than $1 billion, more than triple the value of the union’s 2020 agreement, raises the minimum wage by 7 percent in the first year of the agreement and by 4 percent and 3.5 percent. in the following years. The agreement sets new limits on the use of artificial intelligence, details when consent and compensation are required, creates a bonus for successful broadcasts, and establishes new rules for virtual interviews and auditions, as well as auto-recordings. The union raised the “cap” on contributions to its pension and health plans and for the first time included performance appraisal work in its contract as covered union work.
Expectations for the deal’s success were high, given that it followed a nearly four-month strike that coincided with the Writers Guild of America’s 148-day work stoppage, a moment of unusual impact for both unions. The combined work stoppage hit California’s economy by $6 billion and left many manufacturing workers unemployed or underemployed for six months, according to a November estimate by the Milken Institute. Tentpole movies like Dune: Part Two and Deadpool 3 have been postponed, while popular shows like Netflix’s Stranger Things have been delayed.
In the weeks before the results of the ratification vote were announced, there was an online debate among union members about the artificial intelligence protections included in the agreement. Some felt the union’s first attempt to regulate the emerging technology didn’t go far enough, notably by failing to ban the use of “synthetic performers” and prohibiting companies from using performance to train artificial intelligence tools or requiring scanning and copying as a condition of employment. Others, meanwhile, believed that these initial fences would adequately protect members for the next two and a half years until the union returned to negotiations with the studios over the same contract.
In a statement Tuesday night, Crabtree-Ireland said that “within any democratic institution there will be disagreements from time to time. But no one should confuse the robust debate and democracy within SAG-AFTRA with a lack of unity in our purpose or mission: to protect and advance the cause of SAG-AFTRA members now and forever.”
Voting for ratification took place both online and by mail, with Integrity Voting Systems certifying the results.
