SAG-AFTRA Gets International Backing from ACTRA for Video Game Strike

LOS ANGELES (November 22, 2016) – The union representing Canadian voiceover and performance capture performers has joined with SAG-AFTRA and will help prevent struck video game work from crossing the northern border.

ACTRA and SAG-AFTRA recently strengthened their cooperation for cross-border labor protections and partnered on a joint event at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. Now, ACTRA has joined SAG-AFTRA in support of its strike of 11 video game corporations.

“All of ACTRA’s 23,000 members from across Canada stand in solidarity with our sisters and brothers at SAG-AFTRA as they take job action until they can negotiate a reasonable deal for their Interactive Media Agreement,” said ACTRA President Ferne Downey. “As a demonstration of this solidarity, we at ACTRA will refuse any struck work until a settlement is reached. All performers deserve fair pay for the use of our work and safe working conditions so we can go to work with peace of mind knowing that our performance matters.”

SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris thanked ACTRA members for their strong support.

“The video game corporations operate on a global scale so the support of our brothers and sisters in allied unions is vital in our continued strike,” Carteris said. “I want to thank ACTRA President Ferne Downey and the ACTRA leadership for their strong support. The stalwart solidarity of our allied unions from around the world is part of what makes SAG-AFTRA so difficult to fight.”

Statements of support from leaders of the U.S. and international labor movement are being backed up on the ground with members of AFM, WGAW, IATSE and the Animation Guild Local 839 joining SAG-AFTRA’s recent pickets of Electronic Arts Productions, Inc., WB Games, Inc., Voiceworks Productions, Inc. and Insomniac Games, Inc.

Last, week SAG-AFTRA announced the support of the Actors’ Equity Association, which also urged its members not to accept struck work.

Meanwhile, SAG-AFTRA held a virtual picket today of Electronic Arts Productions, Inc. and Activision Publishing, Inc., two of the 11 struck video game employers, and #PerformanceMatters quickly became a trending topic. That action came after approximately 450 members and leaders of

SAG-AFTRA and allies picketed Insomniac Games, Inc. in Burbank Nov. 17. It was the union’s third picket since it began the video game strike Oct. 21. SAG-AFTRA’s pickets of WB Games, Inc. and Voiceworks Productions, Inc. on Nov. 3 and EA on Oct. 24 drew some 700 combined.

About SAG-AFTRA

SAG-AFTRA represents approximately 160,000 actors, announcers, broadcast journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers, news editors, program hosts, puppeteers, recording artists, singers, stunt performers, voiceover artists and other media professionals. SAG-AFTRA members are the faces and voices that entertain and inform America and the world. With national offices in Los Angeles and New York and local offices nationwide, SAG-AFTRA members work together to secure the strongest protections for media artists into the 21st century and beyond. Visit SAG-AFTRA online at SAGAFTRA.org. Follow SAG-AFTRA on Twitter (twitter.com/sagaftra), YouTube (youtube.com/sagaftra) and Facebook (facebook.com/sagaftra).

 

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