SAG-AFTRA: We want to exhaust every option "without having to pull the trigger on a strike"

gamesindustry.biz:

It's now been eight months since SAG-AFTRA members voted in favour of a strike authorisation in the games industry due to stalling negotiations over the Interactive Media Agreement.

The bargaining has been ongoing since October 2022 with companies including Activision, EA, Epic Games, Insomniac, WB Games, and more – all firms working with actors on voice and motion performances for video games.

While SAG-AFTRA has not moved forward with its strike as of yet, dialogue reached a bit of a dead end soon after the authorisation was approved, and the parties have still not reached an agreement. Despite progress elsewhere – for instance, with Replica Studios over ethical use of AI voice work – negotiations over the Interactive Media Agreement feel like they're almost at a standstill despite several rounds of bargaining.

"The line is drawn very clearly in the sand around AI as an issue," says Sarah Elmaleh, voice actor (Anthem, Where the Water Tastes Like Wine), and chair of the Interactive Media Agreement negotiating committee at SAG-AFTRA. "We both brought a number of proposals to this package, and we resolved those over many months of bargaining, and things have really narrowed, focused, and scoped to the issue of AI, and whether the bargaining group is willing to extend protections comprehensively to all members and performers within SAG-AFTRA."

SAG-AFTRA executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland tells us there's been proposals back and forth in the past couple of months between the union and the companies, in particular regarding AI.

"But unfortunately, as Sarah alluded to, the core issue hasn't been resolved," he continues. "And that core issue, if you really boil it down to its essence, is that, as a union, our expectation and our demand is that all of our members be protected with respect to AI. There are fundamental protections that we expect to see in all of our collective bargaining agreements, with all of our employers, and that need to protect