Hollywood's largest actors' union votes to strike if talks break down

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Now Hollywood’s largest actors’ union SAG-AFTRA votes to strike if talks over higher pay break down before the end of June – as writers continue their walkout

  • Hollywood’s actors union is threatening to strike if coming negotiations fail
  • Nearly 90 percent of ballots cast by union members were in favor of striking
  • Their vote comes after the writer’s union continues to strike 

Hollywood’s actors union voted in favor of a strike if talks over higher pay break down before the end of June, increasing pressure on major film and television studios already dealing with an ongoing work stoppage by writers.

After voting closed on Monday, SAG-AFTRA said 97.91 percent of ballots cast supported a strike. Nearly 65,000 members, about 48 percent of the total membership, voted.

Membership of the union is compulsory for all professional actors that work on major US productions, since almost all studios and producers are engaged in union contracts that only allow them to hire union members.

Though members include people from all walks of life, famous actors and actresses to have spoken about how they were first issued SAG cards include Jennifer Lawrence, Neil Patrick Harris and Anne Hathaway.

The decision to strike worsens the climate in Hollywood, where studios face issues with writers and directors too. On Sunday studios likely averted a second work stoppage by reaching a tentative deal with the Directors Guild of America (DGA).

Hollywood’s actors union voted in favor of a strike if talks over higher pay break down before the end of June, increasing pressure on major film and television studios already dealing with an ongoing work stoppage by writers (pictured on May 8) 


Jennifer Lawrence (left) has said the day she got her SAG card, aged 14, was the best day of her life. Anne Hathaway (right) was similarly 14 when she became a member of the union


Neil Patrick Harris (left) said he became a union member after working on the TV show Throb. Amanda Seyfried (right) is seen attending the premiere of ‘The Crowded Room’ at the Museum of Modern Art on June 1

Members of the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists include actors, broadcast journalists, announcers, hosts and stunt performers.

‘Bravo SAG-AFTRA. We are in it to win it,’ Fran Drescher, the union’s president, said in a statement after the vote. She had previously been spotted at writer’s guild picket lines in solidarity.

Talks between the 160,000-member actors union, Hollywood’s largest, and the major studios are scheduled to start on Wednesday and would need to be wrapped up and settled before their current deal expires on June 30.

Key issues for actors include their base pay, which they say has been hit by inflation and streaming, the threat of AI, benefits, and the requirement on them to self-tape auditions – the cost of which used to be the responsibility of casting and production.

For many members joining the union marked the onset of their professional careers – an occasion of sentimental importance.

‘I got my SAG card when I was 14,’ Anne Hathaway said while collecting an Oscar for outstanding supporting actress for her performance in Les Misérables in 2013.

‘It felt like the beginning of the world. I have loved every single minute of my life as an actor. And I have been the recipient of so much kindness and support from actors in this room and out of it,’ she said.

Jennifer Lawrence said the day she received her card was the best day of her life during her 2013 Screen Actors Guild Awards best actress acceptance speech.

‘I got it on a TV show called Throb,’ Neil Patrick Harris told TV Guide of how he came to be a union member. ‘I played a little kid who was stalking Jane Leeves.’

Fran Drescher, president of SAG-AFTRA, is interviewed at a Writers Guild of America rally outside Paramount Pictures studio on May 8 in Los Angeles

Actor Michael Rapaport joins Writers Guild of America members picket the offices of Netflix in NYC in their labor dispute against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on May 3

While the actors are only now agreeing to a potential strike, the writer’s guild, WGA, continues to strike.

So far their walkout disrupted production of late-night shows and shut down high-profile projects including a new season of Netflix’s Stranger Things and a Game of Thrones spinoff for Warner Bros Discovery’s HBO. 

The recently agreed pact will take effect if DGA members vote to ratify it in the coming weeks. Its terms are not yet known but no new negotiations are scheduled with the writer’s guild, a smaller group that represents 11,500 film and TV writers.

A strike by actors would therefore lead to a broader shutdown across Hollywood and increase pressure on studios that need programming to feed their streaming services and the fall TV broadcast schedule. 

Speaking in regards to the actors, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents Walt Disney Co, Netflix Inc and other studios said: ‘We are approaching these negotiations with the goal of achieving a new agreement that is beneficial to SAG-AFTRA members and the industry overall.’

SAG-AFTRA leaders said the industry had changed dramatically with the rise of streaming television and the emergence of new technology such as generative AI.

The coming talks ‘may be one of the most consequential negotiations in the union’s history,’ said chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland.

‘Inflation, dwindling residuals due to streaming, and generative AI all threaten actors’ ability to earn a livelihood if our contracts are not adapted to reflect the new realities,’ he said.

Writers Guild of America members picket the offices of Netflix in NYC in their labor dispute against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on May 3

‘Together we lock elbows and in unity we build a new contract that honors our contributions in this remarkable industry, reflects the new digital and streaming business model and brings all our concerns for protections and benefits into the now,’ said SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher.

The Nanny star, 65, took to Twitter on Thursday to urge all members to engage in the vote.

‘It’s very important that everybody supports this action, and we had 100 percent had support on your elected national board, everyone agreed, as well as everyone on the negotiating committee,’ she said.

The last time actors went on strike was over a dispute over their commercials contract in 2000. It began on May 1 and lasted six months until October 30.

It is one of the longest work stoppages to have taken place in Hollywood.

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