Hollywood studios offered actors $1B in compensation, benefits before strike - report
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Major film and television studios offered Hollywood actors over $1B in higher compensation and added benefits before the SAG-AFTRA union called a strike last week, Reuters reported, citing a group which represents media companies.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) â which negotiates on behalf of Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS), Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) among others â has mischaracterized the negotiations, according to SAG-AFTRA, the report added.
The national board of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists unanimously voted in favor of a strike on Thursday in California, after receiving a unanimous recommendation to strike from the SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee.
SAG-AFTRA called a strike after union negotiators noted that they were not able to reach an agreement with studios on a new three-year contract with higher benefits and limits on the use of their images by AI.
âThe deal that SAG-AFTRA walked away from on July 12 is worth more than $1 billion in wage increases, pension and health contributions and residual increases and includes first-of-their-kind protections over its three-year term, including expressly with respect to AI, the report added citing AMPTP's statement.
Among the demands, SAG-AFTRA said it asked for an 11% general wage increase in the first year of the contract to counter inflation, the union said the studios proposed an offer of 5%.
It is the first actors strike against the industry since 1980, and the first time since writers and actors have been on strike together in 63 years.
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