SAG-AFTRA members have voted in favor of a strike authorization for performers working in video games, including those who do voice work, motion capture and stunts for the industry. Of the 34,687 members who cast their ballot, 98.32 percent voted "yes." It doesn't automatically mean that the performers are going on strike, only that they could after September 26. The guild explained that it's been negotiating for a new contract with video game companies since 2022, but that they "have refused to agree to critical terms [its] members need." For its next bargaining sessions on September 26, 27 and 28, it believes the strike authorization gives it the added leverage needed to get the companies to agree to its terms.

"This is a picket line," says Rachel Fagan emphatically. The GMB union's Midlands regional organiser stands in front of a line of striking workers several rows deep at Amazon's vast BHX4 warehouse in Coventry, during industrial action designed to embarrass the online behemoth during a high-profile sales event. About 900 workers at the Coventry warehouse are taking three days of strike action from 11 July to 13 July, coinciding with its Prime Day sales event on Tuesday and Wednesday. Along the picket line, one worker holds up a placard carrying the union's familiar refrain: "I am not a robot." The latest industrial action will bring the total strike days at Amazon to 22 since January, when the first UK strikes in the history of the company took place.