“This is the membership saying to the companies, ‘We want a fair contract,’ ” SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris told Variety. “What they offered a month ago is not a fair proposal. That’s why we’re here today.”
Friday, November 18, 2016
Several Hundred SAG-AFTRA Picketers Hit Insomniac Games
“This is the membership saying to the companies, ‘We want a fair contract,’ ” SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris told Variety. “What they offered a month ago is not a fair proposal. That’s why we’re here today.”
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3 comments:
This feels like some good old fashioned blowing of a small issue out of proportion so that the union can bully the video game industry around. It seems to me that video game companies should have to inform voice actors of what video game it is that they are performing in, especially if they are unknowingly recording things that might be controversial, or recording an opinion that they do not share. If their argument is that they want to keep the game a secret, that kind of falls through when they are hiring the same group of people that work in film and don’t go spilling film secrets whenever they feel like it. As to if they deserve a wage increase, I would want to see how they are compensated compared to other voice actors such as for cartoons or other animated work. It seems to me like SAG-AFTRA might be using the situation to bully a little bit more influence out of the industry.
I think that we, as an industry, often overlook the importance of our voice-acting/game-industry counterparts. It can be so easy to get absorbed into that body of work which is most easily observable. However, aural stimulation is, in my opinion, equal to visual stimulation, and that's part of the reason I'm so glad to see an article on the blog that pertains to the oft-overlooked field of voice acting, as well as gaming, a relatively new addition to the landscape of American entertainment.
This article delves somewhat deep into an ongoing (and unfortunately, yet unresolved) conflict between SAG-AFTRA and Insomniac Games, stemming originally from a wage dispute. SAG-AFTRA, for reasons not clearly explained, postponed or otherwise hindered a vote on a pay hike for the company's actors, which the union says they were not allowed to negotiate on. I think this matter is a simpple one, and a resolution should be easily forthcoming. However, I was raised in a union house in a union state, and belong to an industry where unions are pretty venerated.. I'd love to hear more of another perspective on this.
Sometimes it's easy to forget about the role voice actors play in the video game industry. But incidents like these remind us that everyone deserves to earn a living and work in a fair environment. I don't think it's unreasonable to ask for more transparency in the audition process. I also think the union has the right to demand a better pay scale. However, the issue here seems to be that the gaming companies made what they believe to be a reasonable offer, and what the union thought to be so unreasonable they didn't put it to a vote. I think the companies' demand to put their offer to a vote is a reasonable one. Unions are supposed to be run in a democratic manner, so if the majority of the union members are content with the proposed resolution, that should reflect in the actions of the union. SAG AFTRA puts themselves in a tricky situation by not calling for a vote. They risk undermining one of the principles of the union: equality and fair representation. I think they should put it to a vote. But I also think the gaming companies should be prepared that the union could vote their proposal down, and re-enter negotiation.
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