Actors union reaches new 3-year pact with studios

SAG-AFTRA agrees to a tentative deal after negotiations stretched into the early morning hours.

After a negotiation session that dragged on until the early morning hours, SAG-AFTRA reached a tentative agreement Tuesday with the major Hollywood studios on a new three-year contract.

The actors union had been in talks since May 31 with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the bargaining organization that represents studios, broadcast networks and major cable networks.

In a statement sent shortly after 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, AMPTP spokesman Jarryd Gonzales said that the two sides “have concluded negotiations and have reached a tentative agreement on terms for a new three-year collective bargaining agreement.”

The two sides didn’t elaborate on the terms of the deal or when ratification will take place.

SAG-AFTRA had extended its negotiations with the producers alliance after the Friday deadline passed without an agreement. The talks were extended three days before a deal was reached.

The union had earlier threatened a strike authorization from its members after the two sides “failed to make sufficient progress on our most critical issues.” But it remains unclear if the referendum was ever sent to the union’s more than 160,000 members.

SAG-AFTRA is the last of the three big Hollywood unions to negotiate a new contract. Both the Writers Guild of America and the Directors Guild ratified their new three-year contracts earlier this year.

Labor talks in Hollywood have focused this year on issues including residuals for streaming media, healthcare and base compensation.

SAG-AFTRA represents actors, announcers and broadcast journalists. The union is several months into a strike against several prominent video game companies over issues including compensation and workplace safety for motion-capture and voice performers.