The SAG-AFTRA national board voted to go on strike after the contract expired at midnight on Wednesday.
SAG-AFTRA announced Thursday that it is on strike against the film and TV companies, marking only the second time in Hollywood history that actors have joined writers on the picket lines.
The SAG-AFTRA national board held its meeting on Thursday morning and voted unanimously to approve a strike recommendation forwarded by the negotiating committee, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, chief negotiator of SAG-AFTRA, said during a press conference.
“Union members should withhold their labor until a fair contract can be achieved,” he told the room of SAG actors and journalists. “They have left us with no alternative.”
The strike begins at midnight on Friday and picketing will start on Friday morning.
“We are being victimized by a very greedy enterprise,” SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher said during Thursday’s press conference. “At some point you have to say ‘No, we’re not going to take this anymore. You people are crazy. What are you doing? Why are you doing this?’”
In her impassioned plea, she argued that streaming and artificial intelligence have upended the entertainment industry’s business model. But, she continued, the SAG-AFTRA contracts haven’t been updated to reflect those advancements.
“If we don’t stand tall right now, we are all going to be in jeopardy.
