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The SAG-AFTRA voice actors strike manned the pickets yesterday after Friday’s official strike announcement, with more than 250 people turning up outside of Electronic Arts’ Playa Vista Californian office to peacefully demonstrate in support of the guild.
This is the first time physical action has been taken in support of the strike and it happened after last minute negotiations to try and avert the strike fell through, leading SAG-AFTRA to call a strike against EA and 10 other AAA games companies, including Activision, Take Two, Warner Brothers Games and others.
The companies in question are fighting back, releasing a press statement in which they claim that they reached an agreement with SAG-AFTRA before the strike was called, and imploring on the guild to allow its members to vote on the proposals set out in the negotiations.
Talking to Deadline SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris said “This is a strike unlike any we’ve done before, we have different actions planned as we roll it out.”
After recent comments from the lawyers behind the game companies suggesting that SAG-AFTRA’s strike would be too insignificant to make a difference, representatives from the WGA, Musicians Union, IATSE and the Teamsters have shown up on the picket line and taken up signs. Teamsters Local 399 secretary-treasurer Steve Dayan also told Deadline "We support our brothers and sisters at SAG-AFTRA, and we’re here to walk in solidarity with them."
We’ll have more news as the story continues to develop.
