No end in sight for actors strike; negotiations remain stalled on Labor Day

SAN JOSE, Calif. - The actors’ strike continues this Labor Day with no new developments in negotiations since July.  

KTVU spoke to local performers who say actors are just like any other worker. 

Most of them are not making millions of dollars or anything close to that. So, like other unions across the country, they believe they must continue to fight for their own livelihoods. 

"We’re saying that we are like you and if we don’t get a fair contract, beware. Maybe you may not get a fair contract next time either," said Oakland-based actor Michael Sommers.  

Sommers said he hopes Screen Actors Guild negotiators will stand firm in their talks with producers in Hollywood. Since July, union actors have been on strike over the use of AI technology with their images and how they’ll be paid for future use. 

"I was like wait. I have a show running on Netflix and I haven’t been paid since 2001. That’s never happened to me before. Where something is running, and I get nothing. Maybe it’s a small paycheck, but I get something," Sommers said.   

Writers in Hollywood also went on strike in May, and now new development and promotion of content has been brought to a halt. It’s the first time in 60 years that both writers and actors have been on strike.  

"One union’s struggles affect the others’ and basically we’ve come to realize this is a pivotal moment with all the things that are happening with the different technologies that are around," said Kathryn Howell, SAG-Aftra, San Francisco Northern California local president. 

Producers say they’ve offered to double minimum pay wages for actors and to get permission before duplicating their images with A.I. but some actors say that is not enough. 

"It should come down to the same principal, let’s pay us on a basis of how much money is generated," Sommers said.   

The Milken Institute estimates that in 2007, California’s economy lost $2 billion during the writers’ strike. 

Experts now believe that if the actors and writers continue to strike until October, it will cost California about $4 to $5 billion dollars.