Approximately 400 SAG-AFTRA and allied union members from AFM, WGAW, IATSE and the Animation Guild Local 839 picketed WB Games, Inc. and Voiceworks Productions, Inc. in Burbank, Calif. as the interactive video game strike continued into a second week.
Instead of returning to the bargaining table to resolve the nearly two-year-old negotiations, the 11 video game corporations being struck have hired a high-priced PR firm and set up a deceptive SAG-AFTRA website and Twitter handle. To date, SAG-AFTRA has picketed EA, WB Games and Voiceworks Productions, Inc., and is making plans for additional actions in the coming days unless the employers offer a fair deal.
SAG-AFTRA Interactive Negotiating Committee Chair Keythe Farley said, "There's no justification for multi-billion dollar videogame companies to continue working under a substandard, 20-year-old contract that fails to provide for any form of secondary payment --- unlike every other contract under which professional performers work. Professional performers rely on secondary payments to survive between jobs and these payments reflect the respect we deserve for contributing our creativity, voices and likenesses to the games we help bring to life."
SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director David White said, "We are ready to make a deal today if our bargaining partners will accept a reasonable contract that helps performers and corporations alike. Our members want to be back in the motion capture volume and recording booths using their talent to help bring these games to life. But we can't do that until we have a fair deal that recognizes their contributions to the success of these games."
