Members of the major SAG-AFTRA acting union have overwhelmingly voted in favour of authorising a potential video game strike.
Ballots were cast by 34,687 members, with 98.32 percent in favour of strike authorisation on the Interactive Media Agreement that covers union members’ work on video games.
While this does not guarantee the union will call a strike, the next bargaining session is this week, and this ratchets up the pressure. The leverage of this authorisation could compel movement on either side.
Why would union members ever vote against authorizing a strike?
Because they can’t just strike whenever they’re slightly upset. Strikes are the weapon you use when the negotiations go nowhere and all other options are off the table. And a strike won’t work with people who aren’t fully committed to lay down the work to fight for a cause. So you’d vote against a strike when you don’t think that the cause is so important that it warrants a strike.
I understand why you’re getting down voted, so I’ll explain a bit: although union members are able to leverage protest for a variety of reasons, that’s usually the last thing anyone wants to do. Negotiations are always the first step so that actors or whomever can still get paid, since while on strike that’s not paid labor.