#SAG-AFTRA strike

[chillyfeetsteak]

[iww-gnv]

SAG-AFTRA is going on strike again. This time, the union is calling a work stoppage against the major video game companies after nearly two years of trying to renegotiate its Interactive Media Agreement. The decision to hit the picket lines comes 10 months after the union’s initial strike authorization vote. The strike goes into effect July 26 at 12:01 a.m. The 10 companies facing the strike are 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., and WB Games Inc. “We’re not going to consent to a contract that allows companies to abuse A.I. to the detriment of our members. Enough is enough. When these companies get serious about offering an agreement our members can live — and work — with, we will be here, ready to negotiate,” SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said in a statement.

[fans4wga]

WHY THEY STRIKE: Sean Astin (SAG), Member of the SAG-AFTRA Negotiating Committee & Actor on Lord of the Rings

"They're paying us late. At Universal. And Warner Brothers. And Disney. And Amazon. And Hulu. And Netflix. Are you kidding me?" Sean Astin makes an impassioned speech on the SAG picket line. Today, August 13, 2023 marks 30 days since the start of their strike (July 14, 2023).

[aquitainequeen]

David Slack warning against AMPTP trying to turn the unions against each other, and stating the facts.

[technoturian]

[itberice]

Wtf?!???!

[wordsmith30]

You know what makes me the most upset about the use of AI in our culture? It's not just removing artists from art or devaluing human creativity -- it's treating people like they're disposable.

Oh, you're not that special. We have computers to do that now. If you died tomorrow, we have your image. We have your voice. We have your biometric data. We can just duplicate you, it's no problem. Who needs flesh and blood? Who needs agency and free thought? Who needs the human soul? You're just a tool. And when we're done with you, we'll just toss you aside and find someone else.

Creatives, listen to me, and listen to me good: you have a voice and it matters. There is no one in the history of the world who is exactly like you, in this time or this place. There is no one who thinks like you, acts like you, speaks like you, moves like you. There is nobody else built like you. Nobody else with your unique experiences and outlook of the world. You are a product of history, of culture, of art, of love, of pain, of possibility. Don't let them take that from you.

[chalice-light]

The difference between a strike and a boycott is the focus of what is being withheald

In a strike the supply is being withheald because the workers aren’t producing whatever it is.  It works by having the masses demand what the companies cannot produce and therefore, if the company wants to continue providing whatever it is in order to continue making money, they have to listen to worker demands

In a boycott the demand is being withheald because the masses aren’t buying or engaging with whatever it is.  It works because companies, obviously, need to actually sell things in order to function.  The point is to make the company change something about a product in order to appeal to the masses again

That’s why you shouldn’t boycott when a strike is on (unless the union says so) because it kind of cancels out the strike.  If there is no demand then witholding supply is meaningless - again, unless the union says so, since that means they factored it into their industrial action plan and believe it would be beneficial

I know people want to help but the reaction to call for a boycott whenever there’s a strike just kind of...... doesn’t

[nitronine]

Hey, in the midst of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike, I’d like to encourage everyone to join a Union. They’re genuinely so, so important when it comes to fighting for your rights as a worker. Look into specialized unions for your industry or join a larger organization like The Industrial Workers of the World (which grants membership to ANY worker in ANY industry regardless of current employment status). Learn your rights. Unionize. Fight back.

[nightowlqueen]

WGA AND SAG-AFTRA STRIKE BABY!!!

[cluelessbees]

No because both the wga and sag-aftra striking is fucking monumental like??? The last time actors were on strike was 1980?? The last JOINT strike was 1960 like

This is going to halt Hollywood completely

Actors can’t act, go on tours to promote their work, post anything about their work, audition, etc.

The fact that AMPTP just doesn’t want to give protection to their writers and actors when it comes to residuals because of stream and AI stealing their work is just disgusting and speaks volumes and I’m honestly so glad the actors are (most likely) going to join the fight

[theabstruseone]

Fun Fact: The last time both WGA and SAG (now SAG-AFTRA) were on strike together, it was in 1960. They were striking over residuals for television productions and airing of films on television.

See, the studios and networks didn't think they should pay for television. "It's too new of a technology! It's unproven! We don't know if it'll ever be profitable! Listen, why don't we just put this off for now and come back to it later..."

Damned if that doesn't sound really fucking familiar...

[fans4wga]

26 September: thread by WGA member David Slack

Twitter thread by David Slack @/slack2thefuture:

"As WGA leaders meet today to finalize our deal, we begin a new era for writers — and for labor in our industry. But we also begin to face the final and most insidious form of unionbusting propaganda: a years-long effort to sell the lie that our strike was not worth it.

Over the coming days, months, and years, the studios, streamers, and their surrogates will take every opportunity to undermine what we have won together. They will seize on the inevitable consessions and compromises made by our NegCom as proof that we “failed.”

They will urge us to overlook all that we won through hard work and unwavering solidarity. They will claim it wasn’t enough, that we should have gotten X instead of Y, that we lost more by striking than we gained in this new contract. And they will be wrong.

They will tell us that the strike was unnecessary, it was a waste of our time and our savings, that our agents or managers or lawyers could have gotten us everything we won through individual negotiations without anyone having to walk a picket line. Well… then why didn’t they?

As hard as it is to believe right now, these lies can work. They’ve worked before. During our 2017 strike authorization vote, it was shocking to discover how many members believed we lost the ‘07-08 strike, in which we went on strike for the internet — and won the internet.

This didn’t happen by accident. It was the result of years of whispering by studios and anti-union allies. And they don’t just do it because they’re bitter about losing. They push the lie that we used our power and lost because they hope to stop us from using our power to win.

Our strike was necessary because, in our individual negotiations, our employers consistently refused to acknowledge our right and reasonable demands. Because the profound changes we needed could only be won through the unique and overwhelming power of collective bargaining.

Our strike was necessary because our employers made it necessary by driving our income down 23% in 10 years. Because they refused to address free work in features, streaming coverage in comedy-variety, the abuses of mini-rooms and the threat of AI until we withheld our labor

Our strike was necessary. Our strike was effective. Our strike is a victory. If anyone tries to tell you otherwise, it’s ‘cause they never want to see us stand up for ourselves again. Don’t believe it. We won this fight. We’re the WGA, and when we fight, we win. #WGAStrong"

[aquitainequeen]

Alarm bells being rung by Maureen Johnson on AI and the Big Publishers

[renthony]

SAG-AFTRA Strikes League of Legends - September 23, 2024

SAG-AFTRA called a strike today against popular online game League of Legends, after a company that produces the game tried to subvert the video game strike. The union believes those actions, by the company Formosa Interactive LLC, to be a flagrant violation of labor law and has filed an unfair labor practice charge against the company with the National Labor Relations Board.

Read more

[trans-elrond]

if we as fans and audience members are going to support the WGA and SAG-AFTRA vocally, especially in public on social media, it would be helpful if we stopped saying & posting things like “oh I don’t care if there are no new shows. I don’t watch TV/my backlog is so long/there’s nothing good on”.

like yeah I’m right there with you in one sense, it’s not the end of the world to not have new shows, but that rhetoric is so close to accidentally aligning with the studios!

because you’re saying what the actors and writers were doing didn’t have any value, and the strike won’t affect you, so the studios are justified in continuing as they had without necessitating any actual change.

you do realize the strike is supposed to bring Hollywood to its knees? it better be affecting audiences! by all means use this time to watch older stuff, but don’t backhand the unions while you’re at it.

I’m mostly asking you to watch & adjust your language: yes, we can outlast the strike, but because of solidarity and the conviction the artists deserve better, not because we as special little individuals know better than the masses. as fans & audience members, we should be the ones noting the value the writers and actors bring to the table most, not denigrating their contributions at a time when the studios are already treating them like dirt.