In national voting completed this week, members of SAG-AFTRA ratified the 2023 TV/Theatrical Agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) by a vote of 78.33% to 21.67% with a turnout of 38.15%.
The actors union, which joined the Writers Guild of America on the picket lines in July after the WGA initiated a strike in May, announced the settlement on Nov. 8 and on Nov. 10, the SAG-AFTRA National Board voted by a majority of 86% to approve the agreements and recommend a “yes” vote.
The new multi-year contract covering television, theatrical and streaming production, is effective retroactive to Nov. 9, 2023, and expires June 30, 2026 and includes more than $1 billion in new compensation and benefit plan funding, along with outsized gains to the traditional residuals formulas.
In what AMPTP described as "the largest increase in minimum wages in the last 40 years," SAG-AFTRA says the contract offers a new compensation model for performers working in streaming, with a substantial bonus on top of existing residuals structures, plus compensation escalation for principal and background actors. Additionally, the deal establishes detailed informed consent and compensation guardrails for the use of AI, hair and makeup equity, meaningful protections for the casting process, sexual harassment prevention protections and more.
Click here for a list of the provisions.
SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said, “I’m proud of our SAG-AFTRA membership. They struck for 118 days to grant the TV/Theatrical Negotiating Committee the necessary leverage to secure over $1 billion in gains, along with the union’s first-ever protections around AI technology. Now they’ve locked in the gains by ratifying the contract. SAG-AFTRA members have remained incredibly engaged throughout this process, and I know they’ll continue their advocacy throughout our next negotiation cycle. This is a golden age for SAG-AFTRA, and our union has never been more powerful.”
SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director & Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said, “SAG-AFTRA members demanded a fundamental change in the way this industry treats them: fairness in compensation for their labor, protection from abusive use of AI technology, strengthened benefit plans, and equitable and respectful treatment for all members, among other things. This new contract delivers on these objectives and makes substantial progress in moving the industry in the right direction.
"By ratifying this contract, members have made it clear that they’re eager to use their unity to lay the groundwork for a better industry, improving the lives of those working in their profession," Crabtree-Ireland added. "In any democratic institution, there will be disagreement at times. But no one should mistake the robust debate and democracy within SAG-AFTRA for any lack of unity in our purpose or mission: to protect and advance the cause of SAG-AFTRA members, now and forever.”
