The Directors Guild of America (DGA) has voted to ratify the new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), fending off potential labour unrest that has been closely watched on this side of the border.

The DGA announced on Friday (June 23) a record 41% turnout for the vote, with 6,728 members participating out of an eligible pool of 16,321. Of those casting votes, 87% were in favour of the new agreement.

Highlights of the deal include minimum terms and conditions for non-dramatic programs made for SVOD and high-budget dramatic programs made for AVOD, as well as a stipulation that generative artificial intelligence cannot replace any duties performed by DGA members.

The new contract also includes “extensive advances on wages, global streaming residuals, safety, diversity and creative rights,” according to a news release. It will take effect on July 1 and will run through to June 30, 2026.

The successful ratification of the new CBA averts the possibility that the DGA would join the Writers Guild of America (WGA) in its ongoing strike action against the AMPTP, which has had an effect on Canada.

However, the WGA could still potentially form a united front with the actors’ union SAG-AFTRA, whose membership voted nearly 98% in favour of strike authorization ahead of its negotiations with the AMPTP at the beginning of June. That strike action would begin July 1 if no agreement is reached ahead of the expiration of the union’s current CBA on June 30.

The Directors Guild of Canada had expressed support for the DGA during bargaining in May, tweeting that “We need fair deals for all the guilds and unions in the U.S., and we need creatives back to work. What we desire for ourselves, we wish for all.”

In a statement, DGA president Lesli Linka Glatter expressed the guild’s continued solidarity with its sister unions.

“The DGA didn’t bargain in a vacuum. We stand united with writers, actors and all crew members in our shared fight to move our industry forward,” Glatter said. “We support the actors who are in negotiations and the writers who remain on strike, and we will stand with the IA and Teamsters when they negotiate their agreement next year. We won’t be satisfied until we all have fair contracts that reward us for our creative work — we must create a vibrant, sustainable industry that fairly values us all.”

The new deal ratifies a tentative agreement that the DGA had come to with the AMPTP earlier this month. The agreement also includes increased studio transparency in residuals reporting, improvements in diversity and inclusion, a new parental leave benefit, and gains in wages and benefits.

This story originally appeared in Realscreen.