SAG-AFTRA Votes to Strike, Joining the WGA in History-Making Work Stoppage

The movement has been hinted at for the last few weeks but now it’s official: Actors are joining writers on a nationwide strike this Thursday July 13, effective at midnight. The announcement was made this afternoon via press conference at the SAG-AFTRA Plaza in Los Angeles, which was held immediately after the guild’s National Board vote.

The possibility of a SAG-AFTRA strike became evident in early June, when members of the guild voted on whether they should strike or not if contract renegotiations came up empty. The entity reaches deals with studios and platforms regarding actors’ payment and overall working conditions every three years. The turnout was impressive and historic: Out of the roughly 65,000 members of the guild, over 97% voted “yes” to the strike authorization, which gave a pretty good indication of what would happen after contracts expired with no deals in place — which happened in June 30.

In an official statement, SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland didn’t mince words when calling out studios and officializing the strike:

“The studios and streamers have implemented massive unilateral changes in our industry’s business model, while at the same time insisting on keeping our contracts frozen in amber. That’s now how you treat a valued, respected partner and essential contributor. Their refusal to meaningfully engage with our key proposals and the fundamental disrespect shown to our members is what has brought us to this point. The studios and streamers have underestimated our members’ resolve, as they are about to fully discover.”

RELATED: Disney CEO Bob Iger Calls WGA & SAG Demands Not “Realistic” as Dual Strike Looms

Studios’ Unwillingness to Cooperate Has Brought Us Here

Crabtree-Ireland doesn’t state that “studios and streamers have underestimated” actors and writers lightly. AMPTP — the entity that represents streaming platforms and all major Hollywood studios — is allegedly planning on start having real negotiations only in late October because they believe by then writers (and now actors) will be exhausted. In a recent report revealed by Deadline, AMPTP sources suggest that the idea is to let the strike drag on to a point where financially-struggling writers and actors “go broke” before sitting down to negotiate. The nefarious strategy is commonly used by big corporations in any strike: Make workers desperate so that they’ll end up pressuring their union to take any deal because they need to go back to work and pay their bills.

The Writers’ Strike has been in place since early May. As SAG voted to join the protests in solidarity, this marks the first time in over 60 years that the guilds have held hands in protest. In 1960, Hollywood writers put down their pens from January to June, and actors led by then-SAG president Ronald Reagan also went on strike for six weeks. In 2023, actors showed major support for striking writers from the start, and their voices will be invaluable to put pressure on AMPTP to reach a fair decision.

Stick with Collider to find out about new developments in the WGA-SAG strike as soon as they happen.