As its negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) continues, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) is emphasizing that it’s ready to go on strike if a deal isn’t met by the deadline on Thursday, July 13.
On Friday, July 7, the union posted Twitter photos of members making “SAG-AFTRA on Strike!” picket signs. “If a strike becomes necessary, we’re ready,” SAG-AFTRA’s Twitter caption reads.
If a strike becomes necessary, we’re ready. pic.twitter.com/62kUzNId4e
— SAG-AFTRA (@sagaftra) July 8, 2023
SAG-AFTRA also shared a TikTok video of the picket sign production with the same caption on Friday, and Community alum Yvette Nicole Brown, a SAG-AFTRA National Board member, can be seen chipping in.
“Know this, we shall be ready if a deal isn’t made,” Brown tweeted on Saturday, July 8, sharing SAG-AFTRA’s Twitter post. “This is not a game. EVERYONE who works in this industry — above and below the line — should be paid what they deserve.”
@sagaftra If a strike becomes necessary, we’re ready. #SAGAFTRAstrong #sagaftramembers
♬ original sound – SAG-AFTRA
If SAG-AFTRA and its 160,000 members do on strike, it’ll be the first film and TV actor walkout since 1980, when the then-separate SAG and AFTRA organizations went on strike for more than three months over contract terms for pay TV and video cassettes, Deadline reports.
And as the WGA strike continues, a SAG-AFTRA strike would bring Hollywood’s first simultaneous strike by actors and writers in more than 60 years, according to Variety.
On June 5, SAG-AFTRA members authorized a possible strike via vote, with nearly 98 percent of voters approving the plan.
“The upcoming TV/Theatrical negotiations will determine whether our members working in film, television, and streaming can continue earning a professional living doing the job they love,” SAG-AFTRA said on its website.
Specifically, the union has expressed concern around residuals, healthcare and retirement benefit plans, use of artificial intelligence, and the practice of self-tape auditions.
On June 30, SAG-AFTRA said that it and AMPTP would “continue to negotiate under a mutually agreed upon media blackout” but would extend the TV/Theatrical contracts to 11:59 p.m. PT on Wednesday, July 12.