All you should know about the SAG-AFTRA strike and what the demands are
The SAG-AFTRA is a major labor union that represents 160,000 workers who are part of the entertainment industry. The SAG-AFTRA represents actors, recording artists, radio artists, and other representatives of the media. SAG-AFTRA decided to go on strike on July 13, 2023.
The reasons stated for the strike were that SAG-AFTRA was not satisfied with the negotiations with Alliance Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which is a representative of Netflix, Sony, Disney Studios, and Warner Brothers. The actors have gone down on strike because of the low pay scale, stringent ordering conditions, and provisions on artificial intelligence.
One of the biggest issues was actors not receiving their residual payments after their movies had already aired on TV or been re-used. Actors are paid low for streaming their work on various streaming sites. They have raised issues about artificial intelligence and how it can be used against workers and not provide fair compensation.
SAG-AFTRA has laid down a few demands. Their first demand is an 11% retroactive increase in the rates for video game performers, which is followed by an increase of 4% and 4% of its demand from the film and TV studios. To protect the interests of voice and capture artists, they’re also asking for regulations on AI.
The most important demands laid down by them are better pay for the actors and workers, improvements in working conditions, and determining a proper share. Actors and artists are not being given a proper share when their shows are being aired on a streaming platform, and they get pennies out of it.
There has been a refusal by the streaming services to disclose information on the total viewership, and there is no way to calculate their revenues due to the lack of data, which is unfair to the artists.
Another underlying issue is the usage of artificial intelligence and how workers whose work is being used in artificial intelligence must be credited, and they are supposed to receive their own share. The strikes are ongoing, and the demands have not been negotiated yet.
Read More: