I’m trying to understand why SAG-AFTRA’s interim deal ,mainly how it requires only union VAs for union projects.
Why not just focus on AI protections instead of making it union-only?
Wouldn’t this hurt non-union and foreign VAs who can’t easily join?
Why do they expect non-US VAs to support this when it doesn’t benefit them?
P.S : not from the US and unfamiliar with US labor laws and their history surrounding Unions.
Comments
The core conceit is to make it harder for Studios and the like to just ignore them. Which is a good thing. If the Unions are easily ignored they are powerless and thus can’t negotiate better conditions for their members.
The interim agreement does supposedly also leave space for non-american VAs by just requiring them to be part of a union, but it’s just what I heard so take with a pinch of salt.
The main problem with SAG-AFTRA is that they have pretty high requirements for joining, which in combination with the mentioned clause does fuck over VAs that are not yet able to join.
>Wouldn’t this hurt non-union and foreign VAs who can’t easily join?
SAG-AFTRA doesn’t represent non-union and foreign VAs, it represents their own union members. Any agreement they make, they’re trying to make as good as possible for their actual members, rather than non-members or even prospective members. Requiring union projects to have union VAs is very good for their members, so of course it’s something they’re going to fight for.
>Why not just focus on AI protections instead of making it union-only?
They want AI protections, too, but if studios are, at the moment, more willing to budge on card check than they are on the AI stuff, it makes sense for the union to get what they can (card check) while continuing to fight for the AI stuff in the long term.
>Why do they expect non-US VAs to support this when it doesn’t benefit them?
Prospective members who think/expect they’ll be a member of the union at some point will benefit from a stronger union as soon as they have that membership, so they might support this even before they become members.
Non-members who have no intention of becoming members probably won’t support it, but SAG views them as competition, not as allies.