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The SAG-AFTRA voice actors guild are returning to the picket line today, in a 2 hour demonstration outside the offices of WB in Burbank, California.
The strike has now been rumbling on since October 21, and this is the second physical demonstration after more than 300 people joined a picket outside of EA’s offices on October 24. Under the strike order, SAG-AFTRA are banned from working with Electronic Arts, Warner Bros, Activision Publishing, Blindlight, Corps of Discovery Films, Disney Characters Voice, Formosa Interactive, Insomniac Games, Interactive Associates, Take-Two Interactive Software and VoiceWorks Prods.
Last week, SAG-AFTRA demanded that the coalition of video games companies take down the website http://sagaftravideogames.com, which alleges "This is a strike that did not have to happen" and a variety of other comments that seem to be attempting to undermine the strike action.
SAG-AFTRA have hit back in the call to action posted on their website, claiming: "Since our strike began, the video game employers have hired a high-priced PR firm, Singer Associates, to launch a social media war against you and your union. They even set up a misleading SAG-AFTRA website and Twitter account to spread misinformation and confuse the public. Now, they’re spending more on crisis PR than the amount they would spend in secondary compensation."
The picketing will run between the hours of 10:30am and 12:30pm today. The two years of negotiations have most recently run afoul on the key issues of compensation and residual payments for voice performers, vocal stress and transparency — chiefly that the union wants companies to stop being able to hire performers without identifying the game.
