Members of SAG-AFTRA posing before Fox Animation Studios entrance on July 12, 2023 (Twitter)

The SAG-AFTRA union agreed on Tuesday to resort to a federal mediator in an attempt of reaching a last-minute agreement with Hollywood studios. Doing so would avert a second simultaneous strike in the entertainment industry.

The union said it will maintain its strike deadline on Wednesday if a new labor deal is not reached by midnight that day.

Until then, SAG-AFTRA said it would "exhaust every possible opportunity to make a deal," as per a statement issued by the union on Tuesday.

"However we are not confident that the employers have any intention of bargaining toward an agreement," the statement added.

From NY to LA, #sagaftramembers are just practicing for a just contract. pic.twitter.com/4byHpz5xTa
— SAG-AFTRA (@sagaftra) July 12, 2023

Hollywood writers and actors have been striking since May, demanding fairer contracts in terms of wages and guarantees pertaining to the use of AI.

The movement has gained the support of some prominent A-list celebrities, including Jennifer Lawrence and Meryl Streep who stated their intention to walk off the job if the union and negotiators fail to reach a "transformative deal."

On Tuesday, SAG-AFTRA said the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), the group that negotiates on behalf of studios, "has abused our trust and damaged the respect we have for them in this process," noting that the studio sources leaked the request for a federal mediator to the press before union representatives learned about it.

"We will not be manipulated by this cynical ploy to engineer an extension when the companies have had more than enough time to make a fair deal," the union said.