A growing list of actors that include Jennifer Lawrence, Ben Stiller, Charlize Theron, and Joaquin Phoenix have written to SAG-AFTRA leadership noting that they are “prepared to strike” if the guild cannot come to an agreement on negotiations.
A potential extension could push negotiations into next week
According to reports from Deadline and Variety, a letter sent internally to the union’s negotiating committee and leadership was initially signed by over 300 actors and has now been signed by over 1,000, with high-profile actors including Jamie Lee Curtis, Cobie Smulders, Pedro Pascal, and even current SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher in a surprise move. The full list of signatories can be found here.
In the letter, the group noted that they “are prepared to strike if it comes to that,” and said that there were concrns that “SAG-AFTRA members may be ready to make sacrifices that leadership is not.”
The current contract that SAG-AFTRA members are signed to is set to expire on Friday, but a new report from Deadline suggests that may be looking into extending negotiations until July 7, 2023. At any rate, should no agreements be made by whenever the contract does run out, union leadership would have the power to call for a strike as soon as the next day, and they seem ready to.
“This is not a moment to meet in the middle, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that the eyes of history are on all of us,” the letter stated. “We ask that you push for all the change we need and protections we deserve and make history doing it. If you are not able to get all the way there, we ask that you use the power given to you by us, the membership, and join the WGA on the picket lines. For our union and its future, this is our moment. We hope that, on our behalf, you will meet that moment and not miss it.”
News of a potential SAG-AFTRA strike comes as the Writers Guild of America continues to strike after failing to reach an agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. That strike began last month and is reported to potentially continue on until the holiday season, with writers protesting and fighting for better residual pay as well as increases to the size of a writers’ room and limiting the use of artificial intelligence in the writing process.
You can view the full text of the letter that SAG-AFTRA members sent below (via Variety):
Dear SAG-AFTRA Leadership and Negotiating Committee,
Thank you for your hard work and your leadership navigating through this difficult negotiation in a truly unprecedented time. As SAG-AFTRA members, we’ve been impressed over the last few months by how our leadership outlined the unique stakes of the negotiations and the need for a realignment in our industry. We were glad to see SAG-AFTRA lead the way among the guilds in identifying AI as a threat to our livelihoods that must be addressed right now, a “game changer.” We felt as though you understood how wildly our pay and our residuals have been undermined, how long we’re being held between seasons. We’ve been filled with pride watching the union come together and deliver such an incredibly strong strike authorization vote.
But solidarity demands honesty, and we need to make clear our resolve. A strike brings incredible hardships to so many, and no one wants it. But we are prepared to strike if it comes to that. And we are concerned by the idea that SAG-AFTRA members may be ready to make sacrifices that leadership is not. We hope you’ve heard the message from us: This is an unprecedented inflection point in our industry, and what might be considered a good deal in any other years is simply not enough. We feel that our wages, our craft, our creative freedom, and the power of our union have all been undermined in the last decade. We need to reverse those trajectories. With inflation and continued growth in streaming, we need a seismic realignment of our minimum pay and new media residuals, our exclusivity carveouts, and other terms. We also think it’s absolutely vital that the deal restore dignity to the casting process by regulating how self-tapes are used. This is an enormous problem for working class actors. And especially as regards Artificial Intelligence, we do not believe that SAG-AFTRA members can afford to make halfway gains in anticipation that more will be coming in three years, and we think it is absolutely vital that this negotiation protects not just our likenesses, but makes sure we are well compensated when any of our work is used to train AI. We want you to know that we would rather go on strike than compromise on these fundamental points, and we believe that, if we settle for a less than transformative deal, the future of our union and our craft will be undermined, and SAG-AFTRA will enter the next negotiation with drastically reduced leverage.
This is not a moment to meet in the middle, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that the eyes of history are on all of us. We ask that you push for all the change we need and protections we deserve and make history doing it. If you are not able to get all the way there, we ask that you use the power given to you by us, the membership, and join the WGA on the picket lines. For our union and its future, this is our moment. We hope that, on our behalf, you will meet that moment and not miss it.
