Actors' labor union SAG-AFTRA has voted overwhelmingly in favor of a potential strike on behalf of its members acting in video games.
The vote doesn't actually mean the union is striking; rather, it's a vote that authorizes a strike should negotiations with various companies fall through.
According to SAG-AFTRA, the union is currently negotiating with companies including Activision, EA, and Epic on behalf of its members. Issues include fair wages, exploitation protections, and "basic safety precautions".
The union says that 27.47% of those eligible to vote stepped up, and that the resulting vote saw 98.32% of those who cast ballots being in favor of a potential strike.
SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher says it's time for gaming companies to "stop playing games" and to give performers an "agreement that keeps performing in video games as a viable career".
Drescher goes on to say that "five rounds" of bargaining have made it "abundantly clear" that companies aren't willing to engage with the union on "critical issues".
These issues include the use of AI to undercut workers' rights and opportunities to work, as well as compensation being undercut by inflation rates.
Although Drescher hopes the union and the companies can reach a fair agreement, she also says SAG-AFTRA members are "done being exploited" and that if an agreement isn't reached, the "next stop will be the picket lines".
This news comes very shortly after SAG-AFTRA reached a tentative agreement with major movie studios to end the ongoing writers' strike on Sunday.
The strike isn't over yet, and WGA (Writers' Guild of America) members must still have the final say on whether the deal is approved, but it's potentially a major step forward.
The actors' strike, however, is still ongoing, and is technically separate to the writers' strike, although many of the issues (including AI exploitation and wages) cross over both with the writers' strike and with the aforementioned potential gaming strike.
This potential SAG-AFTRA strike is the latest flashpoint in what seems to be an increased focus on workers' collectives in the gaming industry.
There's been an uptick in union activity in recent years; workers at companies like Activision Blizzard have held prominent strikes, and new unions have been formed at studios like ZeniMax, Paizo, and Raven Software.
It remains to be seen whether SAG-AFTRA will actually put a gaming strike into effect, but the numbers don't lie; the union now has the approval of its members to do so. Watch this space for more info.
