SAG-AFTRA Chief “Won’t Rule Out A Strike” Heading Into Contract Talks With Studios & Streamers Next Month

SAG-AFTRA‘s Duncan Crabtree-Ireland was very circumspect today onstage at CES about upcoming contract negotiations with the studios and streamers and who will or should own Warner Bros. Yet, when it came to his labor big stick, the actor’s guild National Executive Director was extremely blunt, sorta.

“I want to be crystal clear, we are not going to accept a deal that is not fair to our members,” the union chief said at the Las Vegas confab as memories of the 2023 picket lines were in the air. “There is no reason there should need to be a strike because these companies should come to the table in good faith, as we are.”

Then DCI tossed a grenade into the AMPTP mix: “I am certainly not going to rule out a strike. A strike is a possibility.”

The NED then took a step back from his own blast: “But with a start on February 9, with weeks and weeks of time for us to negotiate, there is no reason we shouldn’t be able to reach a deal.”

In an unusual timeline for Tinseltown talks, SAG-AFTRA is going first in talks with the the now Greg Hessinger-led Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers into this year’s contracts. Trying not to walk into anything stinky, Crabtree-Ireland sidestepped any real discussion of the expanded contract the AMPTP is seeking and the millions for guild Health plans, that Deadline exclusively reported on last month, they are intending to offer as a trade-off.

Of course, DCI didn’t deny any of that, but punted he couldn’t “respond to a non-proposal,” insisting SAG-AFTRA hasn’t received any formal pitches from ex-SAG boss and old pal Hessinger yet.

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