US actors’ union SAG-AFTRA to hold strike authorisation vote

CC: Vincentas Liskauskas (Unsplash)

US actors’ union SAG-AFTRA plans to hold a strike authorisation vote ahead of its negotiations with the major studios.

Board president Fran Drescher said that the union needed get its “ducks in a row” before discussions with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) on 7 June. Its existing contract with the AMPTP expires on 30 June.

SAG-AFTRA represents more than 160,000 performers. If its membership votes in favour of authorising an actors’ strike in solidarity with the WGA – which is currently in its third week of striking against the AMPTP – it does not necessarily mean one will take place, but it does put the union in a position to call for one if “the need presents itself.”

The union released a statement that said strike authorisation would give it “maximum bargaining leverage” ahead of the talks. Drescher explained: “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.”