- The Washington Times - Thursday, May 18, 2023

A new front has opened in the Hollywood labor battle this week after the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists announced Wednesday it would hold a strike authorization vote ahead of the June 7 contract negotiations.

The vote to strike wouldn’t mean an immediate move to do so, but it would give the union significant leverage going into the negotiations.

“The prospect of a strike is not a first option but a last resort,” SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said in a statement. “As my dad always says, ’Better to have and not need than to need and not have!’”

The current battle between the Writers Guild of America and Hollywood producers is in its third week. The addition of striking actors could significantly increase pressure on the studios to settle. Further complicating the issue is the Directors Guild of America contract negotiations, which are expected to start around the same time as the SAG talks. If the directors’ and actors’ unions decide to join the writers on the picket lines, the strike could end faster than expected.

The actors’ demands look like those of the writers. Among other things, the union is looking for increased pay to match inflation, increased regulations on artificial intelligence and improvements to residual payments on streaming content, all of which the writers’ union has also asked for.

Despite this similarity, Ms. Drescher received backlash from striking writers after saying their interests don’t completely line up.

“Although I’m very empathic for their needs to be honored, I feel like our conversation is going to be very different. And I feel very hopeful that maybe we won’t get to this point,” she said.

Specific to the actors is the issue of self-tape auditions, which actors say is too expensive and exploitative.

• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.

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