Talent unions reached a contract agreement with electronic game publishers, averting a threatened labor stoppage. Voiceover actors will get higher session pay instead of the profit-sharing deals SAG and AFTRA had demanded
The three-and-a-half-year agreements with game companies came as the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) were preparing to announce the results of a strike vote. Unions had sought to win profit-sharing, known as residual payments, from game publishers.
Under the new agreements, union performers will get a 36 percent increase in minimum pay over the term, increases in benefit contributions and greater protection. The agreements are subject to final approval by the unions. The unions, which said they struck the deal with reluctance, vowed to continue their bid to win payments for actors for each game sold. Actors who appear in movies and television shows receive residual payments when those works are shown again.
"While we did not get all that we want … and deserve … this contract is another important step in building artists' power in this growing sector of the media industry," said John Connolly, AFTRA's national president.
Link (Thanks, Wil Wheaton)
Previously on Boing Boing: SAG/AFTRA video game strike on the way for Hollywood?, Strike Looms Against Game Makers, Game biz coders want fatter paychecks, too
