The national board of US actors and performers union SAG-AFTRA has recommended that its members vote to authorise a strike in preparation for the June 7 start of the union’s contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).
A vote to authorise a strike would not necessarily lead to a work stoppage by the 160,000 members of SAG-AFTRA, but it would allow the union’s board to call a strike if, according to a union statement, “deemed necessary during the negotiations process.”
The recommendation to authorise a strike, said SAG-AFTRA, “would give the union maximum bargaining leverage as it enters this round of negotiations with the AMPTP.”
SAG-AFTRA’s current television and theatrical agreement with the studios expires on June 30.
Union members will have until June 5 to vote on a strike authorisation. SAG-AFTRA has not gone on strike since a 2000 action against commercials producers. This year’s negotiations, however, will take place against the backdrop of the US writers strike, now in its third week and getting support from some well known actors.
Commenting on the board recommendation, SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher said: “For the first time in a very long time, our member leadership stands in solidarity at the negotiating committee and the National Board levels on moving forward with a strike authorisation. We must get all our ducks in a row should the need present itself. The prospect of a strike is not a first option, but a last resort. As my dad always says, ‘Better to have and not need than to need and not have!’ Therefore, I implore eligible members to follow the leads of both the negotiating committee and the National Board with an unprecedented show of solidarity and make three a charm with an emphatic ‘yes’ for a strike authorization vote!”
SAG-AFTRA national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland added: “Strike authorisation sends an important message during the negotiations process. A ‘yes’ vote gives the National Board the power to call a strike if the AMPTP does not negotiate fairly in our upcoming bargaining. This will be a seminal negotiation that will determine the future of what it means to be a working performer. We must be ready to fight to secure a meaningful deal for our members.”
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