Prior to the July 26 declaration of a strike on the video game contracts, the SAG-AFTRA National Board met July 20 in a scheduled videoconference plenary and voted unanimously to delegate authority to the national executive director and chief negotiator, with the advice and consent of the National Interactive Media Agreement Negotiating Committee, to call a strike.
At the time, negotiations were ongoing but the two sides remained far apart on resolution of necessary terms covering critical A.I. protections for video game performers.
The board also received several leadership reports and handled various governance and administrative matters. SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher read the names of members who passed away since the last meeting and recognized her father, Morty Drescher, who was a member of SAG-AFTRA, in an emotional tribute to his life and legacy. Drescher also provided updates on initiatives in progress with IMDb and next steps in the Green Council project.
National Executive Director & Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland reported on contract negotiations, organizing and operations. He provided an update regarding ongoing negotiations on the Interactive Media Agreement and the recently ratified Sound Recordings Code.
In his operations update, Crabtree- Ireland recognized the SAG-AFTRA Member Contact Center, which answers thousands of emails, calls and online chats with a satisfaction rate of 98%, and he noted increased member engagement across all channels, including the SAG-AFTRA website, social media, podcast, videos and streaming.
Crabtree-Ireland reported on the union’s legislative activities in support of the federal NO FAKES Act and state-level legislation aimed at curbing abusive uses of artificial intelligence. He also reinforced the union’s goal of working with ethical A.I. companies, pointing to the new Dynamic A.I. Audio Commercials Waiver.
He also highlighted the recent SAG-AFTRA Health Plan decision to offer infertility treatment benefits and shared that a long-pending lawsuit regarding the Return to Work Agreement was resolved in the union’s favor.
Secretary-Treasurer Joely Fisher and Chief Finance Officer Ariana Ozzanto reported results for fiscal year 2024. The year ended with a healthy surplus and tracking positively to budget targets. The Board also received a report from their independent auditors at PriceWaterhouseCoopers that they have issued an unqualified audit opinion.
This item originally featured in the SAG-AFTRA summer 2024 magazine issue.