SAG-AFTRA Board Unanimously Supports WGA in Contract Talks, Calls for Studios to Negotiate ‘Fair and Equitable Wages’

SAG-AFTRA board unanimously voted Saturday to support the WGA, urges “the studios, streamers, and other employers in the entertainment industry to remove roadblocks to fair and equitable wages and working conditions.”

“SAG-AFTRA stands strongly in support and solidarity with the members of the Writers Guild of America who are engaged in contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers,” a resolution passed Saturday by the performers’ union read. “It is long past time for the studios, streamers, and other employers in the entertainment industry to remove roadblocks to fair and equitable wages and working conditions, and to agree to terms that reflect the unique worth and contribution of creative talent and workers, without whom the industry would not exist.”

The existing contract expires on May 1.

Talks between the WGA and studios labor reps at AMPAS began on March 20 with several issues that needed to be addressed. At the top of the list was the issue of compensation for streaming TV shows and films and the abuse of mini-rooms in which studios require writers with a TV show pitch to assemble a writers’ room at scale pay to produce scripts before the pitch is even greenlit.

More than 9,000 WGA members voted on April 17 to authorize their leaders to order a strike if a deal was not met and a drastic change was not in the future. But individuals with knowledge of the talks told TheWrap that the WGA and AMPTP negotiating committees remained far apart on several key issues.

The resolution passed Saturday reads in full:

WHEREAS, history shows that fairness and equity to the workers who power the creativity of the entertainment industry has only been achieved through solidarity and the efforts of those workers working within their labor unions and guilds; and

WHEREAS, changes in the economics of the entertainment industry have worked to the great benefit of large corporate employers and in many cases to the detriment of the creators who make their businesses possible; and 

WHEREAS, workers are stronger when they stand together united, and the unions that represent them are more powerful working and collaborating together; and

WHEREAS, after weeks of bargaining, it is time for the employers in our industry to step up and make meaningful changes to fairly compensate writers and to acknowledge their unique needs and concerns, along with the concerns shared by all artists and workers in the industry;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the National Board that SAG-AFTRA stands strongly in support and solidarity with the members of the Writers Guild of America who are engaged in contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. It is long past time for the studios, streamers, and other employers in the entertainment industry to remove roadblocks to fair and equitable wages and working conditions, and to agree to terms that reflect the unique worth and contribution of creative talent and workers, without whom the industry would not exist.