Striking Actors Picket Outside Local Video Game Company

PLAYA VISTA, CA -- Voice actors continued their strike Monday against 11 video game companies, picketing outside the offices of Electronic Arts in Playa Vista, while the companies released documents purporting to show the strike was called despite an agreement on the bulk of issues at the negotiating table.

The voice actors, represented by SAG-AFTRA, went on strike at 12:01 a.m. Friday, with the union saying it was unable to reach an accord with the companies after nearly two years of negotiations.

The strike targets Electronic Arts, Activision Publishing Inc., Blindlight LLC, Corps of Discovery Films, Disney Character Voices Inc., Formosa Interactive LLC, Insomniac Games Inc., Interactive Associates Inc., Take 2 Interactive Software, VoiceWorks Productions Inc. and WB Games Inc.

"No matter what these companies are peddling in their press releases, this negotiation is not only about upfront compensation. It is about fairness and the ability of middle-class performers to survive in this industry," according to the union. "These companies are immensely profitable, and successful games -- which are the only games this dispute is about -- drive that profit."

Attorney Scott J. Witlin, chief negotiator for the companies, insisted last week that SAG-AFTRA members should have been given the chance to review and vote on the companies' latest contract offer, insisting that the two sides were essentially in agreement on most terms.

Witlin doubled-down on that assertion Monday, publicly releasing copies of the latest offers by the union and the companies, insisting that they show agreement on major terms and only a lingering spat over the companies' use of the term "additional compensation" versus the union's "contingent compensation."

"These proposals exchanged across the table prove the companies and SAG- AFTRA have largely agreed on the significant issues before us except for the label we have placed on the `Additional Compensation,' which would be paid above and beyond our proposed 9 percent pay increase," Witlin said. "The documents also demonstrate that the companies value performers and reached agreement with the union on the issue of vocal stress."

Witlin said the documents show that the companies and union had reached agreement to jointly investigate vocal stress issues during the term of the contract. The companies also offered performers arrangements including split sessions and multiple performer sessions -- but the offer was rejected.

"Among their proposals, the companies offered to split a four-hour recording session into two, two-hour portions with the second session to be performed within five days of the first session to ease the stress on performers, but this and other offers were rejected by SAG-AFTRA," he said.

There was no immediate response from SAG-AFTRA to the document release.

The union, the largest in the entertainment industry, is reported to be seeking a compensation structure that would allow actors to start receiving residual-like payments based on a game's commercial success. It also demands improved safety conditions for performers.

The proposed bonus system would have allowed actors to receive additional payments for every 2 million copies or downloads sold, with a cap at 8 million, the Los Angeles Times reported.

But the video game companies balked at the plan, instead proposing a 9 percent wage increase. They are also offering additional compensation of up to $950 per game based upon the number of sessions a performer works on a particular video.

A federal mediator joined the discussions Wednesday but did not stave off the strike.

City News Service; Photo: Public Domain