SAG-AFTRA strike finally over: Actors’ union reaches tentative agreement

SAG-AFTRA strike finally ending after 118 days (almost three months).

The actors’ union has officially reached a tentative agreement on Wednesday with a new three-year contract with film and TV studios in Hollywood, following gruelling two weeks of negotiations, reported Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.

The union’s negotiating committee approved the deal on a unanimous vote; hence the strike will be ending on Thursday. On Friday, the deal will go to the union’s national board for approval.

The announcement comes after the contract negotiations failed for the first time in July. Negotiations restarted last month but major companies could not agree with the union’s terms.

The negotiations began again at the end of October and finally reached an agreement.

On Wednesday, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers stated that their “tentative agreement represents a new paradigm.”

They shared that this is the “biggest contract-on-contract gains” in the history of SAG-AFTRA, including “the largest increase in minimum wages in the last forty years; a brand new residual for streaming programs; extensive consent and compensation protections in the use of artificial intelligence; and sizable contract increases on items across the board.”

Kevin E. West, a member of the committee, said there were “tears of exhilaration and joy” in the committee room after the contract was approved.