A coalition of videogame companies including Activision, Disney, Electronic Arts, and Take-Two have launched a website at sagaftravideogames.com criticizing the SAG-AFTRA union that represents striking voice and motion capture actors. The site claims that the difference between the two sides was almost negligible, but that the union "never communicated what was on the table" to its membership ahead of the decision to walk away from negotiations.
"Our offer of a 9% wage increase accelerates the entire payment into the first year – an improvement over the three-year, 3% per year increase that the Union was seeking. It also includes for the first time Additional Compensation for Principal Performers (who work on more than one session on a game)," the site says. "This structure for Additional Compensation is so close to what SAG-AFTRA is demanding monetarily that we believe most performers would conclude the differences are not worth striking over."
The site offers a detailed breakdown of what the union wants and what the game companies offered, including wage increases, transparency, and relief from vocal stress, including a color-coded comparison chart for industrial dispute edification. There are also links to publisher-friendly news stories and tweets from the SAG-AFTRA Videogames account, but it's the effort to drive a wedge between union members and its leadership that stands out.
"SAG-AFTRA: Let your members vote on the Companies’ proposal," the site says. "A prolonged strike only benefits non-union video game producers and non-union performance interests within the video game industry. It will also discourage the unorganized majority of developers and publishers from working with SAG-AFTRA in the future."
