SAG-AFTRA (acronym of “Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists”) has announced its intention to organize a new strike of voice actors and actors for the motion capture that will involve the gaming market.
Through the official website, the union has revealed that it will send a vote of authorization to all members who are part of it, in view of the next negotiation dates with video game companies, which should begin on September 26th. The companies involved include:
- Activision Productions Inc.
- Blindlight LLC
- Disney Character Voices Inc.
- Electronic Arts Productions Inc.
- Epic Games, Inc.
- Formosa Interactive LLC
- Insomniac Games Inc.
- Take 2 Productions Inc.
- VoiceWorks Productions Inc.
- WB Games Inc.
Voting will begin on Tuesday 5 September and conclude on 25 September. If the strike is approved and possibly implemented there could clearly be some important repercussions on video games currently in development, with the risk of postponements or delays on the roadmap.
The goals of SAG-AFTRA
For the uninitiated, SAG-AFTRA launched a strike on July 13 against major TV and film companies, blocking productions worldwide. The union has a separate contract, theInteractive Media Agreementwith major game companies, such as Electronic Arts, Activision and the others in the list above.
The expiry of this contract was set for November 7 last year, but it was postponed to September 26, 2023 to allow for further dialogue between the parties and to reach a satisfactory solution, which apparently has not been possible.
In particular, SAG-AFTRA is asking for a retroactive 11% increase in wages for video game actors and voice actors, followed by increases of 4% in the second and third year of the new contract, a measure necessary to adjust the compensation to the increase in the inflation. These are the same conditions also required for actors in the television and film scene.
“It has been nearly a year since SAG-AFTRA’s contract for video games, the Interactive Media Agreement, was extended beyond its original expiration date, as we negotiated with companies to obtain critical terms that SAG members -AFTRA they need,” reads the official statement.
“Unfortunately, during the negotiations, the companies failed to meet these demands. For this reason, the negotiating committee and the National Council unanimously agreed that the union must have a strike authorization approved by the members in hand to the resumption of negotiations on 26 September.”
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