Actors’ Strike Officially Ends as SAG-AFTRA Ratifies New Contract

SAG-AFTRA members have officially voted to ratify the strike-ending contract reached back between the actors’ union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) back in November. On Tuesday, SAG-AFTRA issued a statement announcing that the 2023 TV/Theatrical Agreement had officially been approved with the new, multi-year contracts covering television, theatrical, and streaming production. The vote was 78.33 percent to 21.87 percent with an overall voting turnout of 38.15 percent. The new contract is retroactive to June 9th and will run through June 30, 2026.

“This contract is an enormous victory for working performers, and it marks the dawning of a new era for the industry. Getting to this point was truly a collective effort,” union president Fran Drescher and national executive director Duncan Crabtree Ireland said in a joint statement.

“SAG-AFTRA members have remained incredibly engaged throughout this process, and I know they’ll continue their advocacy throughout our next negotiation cycle,” Drescher added. “This is a golden age for SAG-AFTRA, and our union has never been more powerful.”

Why Did SAG-AFTRA Go On Strike?

SAG-AFTRA initially went on strike earlier this year to address many of the same issues already tackled in studio deals with the Director’s Guild of America (DGA) and WGA. Among those issues were concerns about royalty and residual payments as well as the use of artificial intelligence (AI) on the part of the studios to reduce labor costs. Back in May, SAG-AFTRA’s national board unanimously agreed to send an authorization vote to members, with and 97.91 percent of members ultimately voting in favor of authorization.

What Is In The New SAG-AFTRA Contract?

There are some major provisions in the new, three-year contract which is valued at over $1 billion dollar per the union. It raises minimum wages by 7 percent in the first year and then 4 percent and 3.5 percent in subsequent years. There are also new guardrails in terms of the use of artificial intelligence (AI), which had been a major sticking point during negotiations.

“We were engaged in a very serious fight with the companies over what was going to happen with respect to the use of generative A.I. to create what we call ‘synthetic fake performers,’” Crabtree-Ireland explained previously. “And what the result of that is that number one, we have a provision that requires the companies to get the consent of performers whose facial features are used as part of the creation of such a synthetic — even if it’s more than one performer, even if it’s only a part of those recognizable facial features. Number two, the companies are obligated to give us notice anytime that they use generative AI to create a synthetic fake performer, so we’ll know about it. And number three, the union has the right to bargain over compensation on behalf of those people, in the event that the companies create any kind of synthetic fake performer. So that was the piece that ultimately came together on the very last day on day 118 of the strike. And with that piece added to everything else I mentioned, we feel that there is a robust and comprehensive set of protections for our members against the implementation of A.I. in the industry. It allows the industry to go forward. It does not block A.I., but it makes sure that the rights to consent are protected, the rights to fair compensation, and the rights to employment for protected.”