AI protections and a merged pension plan: SAG-AFTRA leaders tout gains for members

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Union officials celebrated the preliminary agreement reached with the major film and television studios, highlighting improved safeguards against the misuse of artificial intelligence and the merging of separate pension funds into a single plan.

SAG-AFTRA’s lead negotiator, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, stated in an interview on Tuesday that the agreement reached prioritizes the well-being of performers in the years to come, and that the contract successfully achieves this goal.

SAG-AFTRA’s national board voted to approve the new contract on Monday, just over a week after reaching a deal.

Later this week, the union – representing over 160,000 performers including actors, journalists, dancers, DJs, stunt professionals, and voice-over artists – will start voting on a new contract.

SAG-AFTRA President Sean Astin expressed his hope that union members would be satisfied with the terms of the agreement.

He highlighted a major benefit: the consolidation of pension plans for the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, something they first agreed to do fourteen years ago when the unions merged.

In 2017, the studios combined their health plans, but the pension plans remained separate, which caused problems for union members during recent negotiations. Some members couldn’t fully qualify for benefits because their payments were divided between the two pension systems. To address this, the studios agreed to increase their total contributions to the unified plan by 1%.

Union representatives also highlighted improved safeguards regarding AI. These include new rules for how studios can use AI to create content, with a strong emphasis on prioritizing and protecting the work of human actors.

The rules say that AI shouldn’t be used to replace human actors unless it adds something truly valuable to the project. The agreement also differentiates between digital versions of performers created with their permission, and completely artificial characters made without authorization.

According to Astin, creating digital copies of people is acceptable as long as those individuals are fairly compensated and protected. If that’s not possible, then negotiations with us are necessary for any special use of these digital versions, and those requirements would be significant.

Hollywood Inc.

The Writers Guild of America has officially approved a new four-year contract following swift negotiations with movie and television studios.

The new contract includes a 3% yearly raise for minimum wage earners. It also increases the payments performers receive for popular streaming shows. Union members will contribute 1% more to their health insurance plan.

The actors’ union started talking with the movie and TV studios in February, continuing the discussions in March. These talks were temporarily put on hold while the studios finished negotiating with the writers’ union.

SAG-AFTRA, the actors’ union, has reached a tentative four-year agreement with the major studios, joining the Writers Guild of America in resolving their contract disputes. This new deal is longer than the previous one, which lasted three years.

The Directors Guild of America is the only major Hollywood union still working on a new contract. Talks with the studios began this Monday, as their current agreement is set to end on June 30th.

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2026-05-13 02:31