‘A Crowning Achievement’ and ‘Moment of Triumph’ for Actors: SAG-AFTRA Leaders Reflect on the Long Road to Ratification

variety.com:

SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher told Variety minutes after the union disclosed the ratification vote tally that sealed the deal on its hard-fought new three-year contract.

Drescher and Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA’s union’s national executive director and chief negotiator, took a moment to reflect Tuesday evening on the winding road that led the union to wage its first strike in more than 40 years, as well as the high-stakes negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and studio chiefs that produced the deal.

For nearly four months, SAG-AFTRA’s indefatigable duo were the face of the 118-day strike by the union’s 160,000 members. Despite a healthy debate during the ratification vote period over whether the protections achieved around AI were significant enough to protect actors in the future, Drescher and Crabtree-Ireland say the larger achievements of the contract are unequivocally game-changing for Hollywood. “It really sets the stage for a whole new era in our negotiations and probably other union negotiations too,” Crabtree-Ireland said.

In a wide-ranging Q&A, Drescher throws ice water on the question of whether she intends to use her new platform as a labor leader to pursue elected office.