SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher welcomed a George Clooney-led proposal on taking caps off union dues however mentioned the provide wouldn’t be legally appropriate with the union’s contract with the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers, saying “that does not impact the contract that we’re striking over whatsoever.”

Earlier this week, Clooney and a gaggle of different A-list actors met with SAG-AFTRA nationwide govt director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland and Drescher and supplied a daring proposal to leaders suggesting that the union take away the cap on dues for high-earning members so as to infuse extra funds into the union’s coffers over the course of three years.

The thought behind the A-lister proposal is for main stars like Clooney to pay extra in dues than is at present required (the cap is at present at $1 million in earnings) so as to assist bridge the hole between what the SAG-AFTRA is looking for in 2023 negotiations and what the studios and streamers are keen to give. The proposal additionally seeks to get lower-income members paid in residuals earlier than higher-income members.

“First of all, I want to thank certain members that wield a lot of clout in this business for the tremendous amount of money that they contributed to our foundation,” Drescher mentioned in a prolonged video posted to Instagram. “I also want to thank George Clooney for organizing the suggestion that… take the caps off of the dues so that the highest paid members can contribute more. Although that’s extremely generous and we accept that graciously.”

Drescher defined that the proposal wouldn’t work legally due to the idea of the union’s contract. “We are a federally regulated labor union and the only contributions that can go into our pension and health funds must be from the employer. So what we are fighting for in terms of benefits has to remain in this contract.”

She added, “[It’s] kind of apples and oranges, just so everybody understands that.”

The talks between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP are at present stalled over the union’s streaming viewership proposal, which makes an attempt to cost streaming companies 57 cents per subscriber to create a pool of funds that could possibly be distributed to members whose work seems on these companies. The AMPTP has mentioned that this proposal would create an “untenable economic burden,” whereas the performers union has mentioned that such a provision is critical to complement downward stress on members’ wages for streaming initiatives. The sides additionally stay far aside on AI guardrails for leisure and minimal price will increase for the subsequent three years.

Drescher additionally spoke on the thought floated within the Clooney-led plan about residuals. “There was a reference to a suggestion of maybe a solution from some people of how maybe we can get back to the table with some kind of a residual. But that was vetted by our very experienced union contract staff negotiators and lawyers.”

“And they said that it unfortunately doesn’t hold water because, frankly, this is a very nuanced house of cards. So although we appreciate the effort and the desire to be supportive to all the member body, we at the union and with the negotiating committee are still waiting for the CEOs to return to the table so we can continue our talks,” Drescher mentioned, referring to the truth that studios known as for a suspension in discussions on Oct. 11 primarily over the union’s streaming viewership proposal. “Because in either saying no or walking away from the table, you are not really in a negotiation.”

Later within the video, Drescher made some extent of admonishing the studios for strolling away from talks, saying that “walking away from the table actually is not only very naughty, but it also is not legal.” The Hollywood Reporter has gone out to the AMPTP for remark.

Drescher described the union’s streaming viewership proposal as having “cracked the code” on streaming compensation. And in her message, she conveyed the union received’t be backing down from that proposition any time quickly. “Now, it’s true that the CEOs don’t really want to address that, but sometimes in life when you introduce an unprecedented business model like they did on all of my members with streaming, an unprecedented compensation structure must also go along with it. It may not be easy, it may not be what they want but it is an elegant way to solve the problem so we can all go back to work in what would be the new normal.”

Later on Thursday night, SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee chimed in with a prolonged assertion that reiterated a few of Drescher’s key factors and fleshed out others. “The fact that the heads of the networks, streaming companies and studios are open to communicating with them directly is great,” the union’s assertion mentioned. “But, the executives should not for one second think that they can use the goodwill of member emissaries to distract us from our mission.”

The assertion continued, “We subsidized the growth of the streaming model with reduced rates and low to non-existent residuals. It’s time to share in the success we’ve helped build.”

Katie Kilkenny contributed to this report.