Global Rule One Global Rule One states: "No member shall render any services or make an agreement to perform services for any employer who has not executed a basic minimum agreement with the union, which is in full force and effect, in any jurisdiction in which there is a SAG-AFTRA national collective bargaining agreement in place. This provision applies worldwide." Simply put, a SAG-AFTRA member must always work under a union contract around the globe. "Do not work" orders are formally issued to denote productions that have not entered into the required agreements.
2016–2017 strike After approximately a year and a half of negotiations, SAG-AFTRA issued a strike on October 21, 2016, against eleven American video game developers and publishers, including
Activision,
Electronic Arts,
Insomniac Games,
Take 2 Interactive, and
WB Games. The strike resulted from attempted negotiations since February 2015 to replace the previous contract, the Interactive Media Agreement, that expired in late 2014. There were four major issues they fought for with this strike: establishing transparency in contract negotiation; preventing vocal stress from long recording sessions; providing safety assurances for stunt coordinators on performance capture sets; and giving payments of
residuals based on sales of a video game, which have traditionally not been used in the video game industry. SAG-AFTRA members sought to bring equity for video game actors as in other industries, while the video game companies feared that giving residuals to actors would overshadow the contributions of programmers and artists that contribute to the games. It was the first such organized strike within the video game industry and the first voice actors' strike in 17 years, as well as the first strike within the merged SAG-AFTRA organization. As of April 23, 2017, it became the longest strike within SAG, surpassing the 95-day
1980 Emmy Awards strike, and the
2000 commercials strike. An agreement was reached on September 23, 2017, ending the 340-day strike.
Strike against Bartle Bogle Hegarty On September 20, 2018, SAG-AFTRA called a strike against global advertising agency
Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) after the company announced they would no longer honor a long-standing contract with SAG-AFTRA. SAG-AFTRA launched a successful strike action that drew thousands of members to picket lines and strike actions across the country. At the close of the strike, BBH agreed to return to SAG-AFTRA's contract. In 2018, BBH had withdrawn from their contract with SAG-AFTRA, which was first agreed on in 1999, over contractual terms that stated BBH would not be allowed to hire non-union actors. BBH stated it put them at a competitive disadvantage as many of their peer agencies were not signatories. SAG-AFTRA members' successful strike actions, including pickets and rallies throughout the US, proved a success for SAG-AFTRA. Several actions of note included a rally of 1,000 SAG-AFTRA members and supporters near SAG-AFTRA Headquarters at the
La Brea Tar Pits, and a picket line at BBH Headquarters in Los Angeles that drew an estimated 1,000 members standing in solidarity on the picket line. On July 20, 2019, SAG ended its 10-month strike against BBH after the advertising agency agreed to sign the union's new commercials contract.
2023 strike outside of the
Warner Bros. Discovery offices in
New York City during the
2023 SAG-AFTRA strike In June 2023, the guild voted to authorize a strike if its negotiating committee failed to reach an agreement on a new contract with major Hollywood studios by June 30. On June 27, over 300 actors signed a letter threatening to go on strike. Signatories include
Jennifer Lawrence,
Meryl Streep,
Rami Malek and
Amy Schumer. The next day, signatories had reached 1,000 members. Key issues in the negotiations include issuing
residuals based on viewership data and finding a uniform metric on which to judge all streaming platform data. Further issues include limiting the use of self-tape auditions and preventing the use of
artificial intelligence and computer generated voices and faces within the entertainment industry. On July 10, 2023, SAG-AFTRA laid out potential strike rules including: no shoots, no press, and no social media promos for any actors or actresses under the guild. A representative of the
Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers spoke about the compensation offered to actors to avoid a strike. The alliance, which negotiated with the union on behalf of
Netflix,
Disney, and
Warner Bros. stated that SAG-AFTRA deliberately distorts the course of negotiations. The deal, which SAG-AFTRA refused on July 12, included more than $1 billion for an increase in salaries, pensions and health insurance, was designed for a three-year period and included the protection of actors from the use of their images by
artificial intelligence. . On July 13, SAG-AFTRA announced that its television, theatrical, and streaming contract with the alliance had expired without an agreement to replace it. They announced that the SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee had voted unanimously to strike. SAG-AFTRA also announced that their National Board would meet later that morning to decide on whether or not SAG-AFTRA would go on strike. SAG-AFTRA said they would make their decision known to the public at 12 p.m. PST in a press conference at SAG-AFTRA plaza in Los Angeles. During the press conference, SAG-AFTRA president
Fran Drescher and national executive director and chief negotiator
Duncan Crabtree-Ireland confirmed that members had voted to strike and that the strike would begin July 14. This marked the first strike that involved actors in the film and television industry
since 1980, The strike would last for almost four months, eventually coming to an end on November 9, 2023. The deal received 78.33% approval among voting SAG-AFTRA members when the voting concluded on December 5.
2024–2025 strike Starting 12:01 am PDT (UTC-7) on July 26, 2024, SAG-AFTRA began a labor strike against video game developers signed to the Interactive Media Agreement. Roughly 2,600 people who were employed in the video game industry for voice acting, motion capture, and other work would participate in the strike. On June 11, 2025, 12:30 pm (UTC-7) SAG-AFTRA suspended the strike. SAG-AFTRA members were given notice to return to work on productions that fall under the IMA. On July 9, 2025, the tentative agreement was ratified with 95.04% of the votes in favor, officially ending the strike. ==Organizing campaigns==