The union, which represents more than 160,000 film and television actors, voted Monday evening to authorize a strike, two days before starting negotiations on a new contract with Hollywood studios. The result for members of the SAG-AFTRA union, with 98 percent authorizing a strike, was expected, and it came in the sixth week of a hollywood writers strike and just a day after the Directors Guild of America tentatively accepted a new contract.

“Together, we stand together, and in unity we build a new contract that honors our contributions to this remarkable industry, reflects the new digital and streaming business model, and brings ALL of our concerns around protections and advantages in the present!” Fran Drescher, the president of the actors union, said in a statement.

Approximately 65,000 members voted, or 48% of eligible voters. The actors’ current deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which negotiates on behalf of the studios, expires June 30.

Many of the actors’ concerns echo what the Writers Guild of America is fighting for: higher salaries; increased residual payments for their work, especially for content from streaming services; and protections against the use of actor likenesses without permission as part of enhanced artificial intelligence capabilities. According to the authors, the studios offered little more than “annual meetings to discuss” artificial intelligence, and they refused to negotiate on the limits of the technology.

The Directors Guild, on the other hand, said on Sunday that it had reached a “groundbreaking agreement confirming that AI is not a person and that generative AI cannot replace the functions performed by members”. Details on what this meant have not been revealed.

The last time the actors went on strike in 2000, in a dispute over commercial compensation. The strike lasted nearly six months.

With negotiations set to begin on Wednesday, SAG-AFTRA is optimistic about the significance of this strike authorization. “We are obviously coming from a position of strength, but we are not looking to strike,” said Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the union’s chief negotiator. “We are here to make a deal.” He added: “But we are also not going to accept anything less than what our members deserve. If a strike is necessary to achieve this, we are ready.

The Alliance of Film and Television Producers said in a statement that “we are approaching these negotiations with the goal of reaching a new agreement that is beneficial to SAG-AFTRA members and the industry as a whole.”