SAG president doesn't want to hear strike talk
LOS ANGELES (AP) - June 30, 2008 "We have taken no steps to initiate a strike authorization vote
by the members of Screen Actors Guild," Union President Alan
Rosenberg said in a statement Sunday. "Any talk about a strike or
a management lockout at this point is simply a distraction."
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers has
taken out an advertisement in trade publications calling a strike
"harmful and unnecessary." Citing $2.8 billion in lost wages, the
ad says "We've completed four equitable and forward-thinking labor
agreements. Let's get the fifth done."
The ad is scheduled to run in Monday's editions of Variety and
Hollywood Reporter.
"The industry is shutting down because SAG's Hollywood
leadership insisted on 11th-hour negotiations and dragging these
talks into July so they can continue attacking AFTRA," AMPTP
spokesman Jesse Hiestand said in a statement.
The contract runs out at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.
Anxiety has been growing in Hollywood that actors might walk off
the job or studios could lock out performers on the heels of a
Writers Guild of America strike that devastated production from
November through February.
SAG leaders have been fighting a deal reached between producers
and another actors union, the American Federation of Television and
Radio Artists. Vote results among that union's 70,000 members are
due July 8.
AFTRA and the 120,000-member SAG have 44,000 members in common.
SAG leaders are urging its members in AFTRA to vote against the
deal, saying they can strike a better bargain with producers if the
contract is defeated.
SAG has said it is willing to continue talks with producers
after its own contract expires.
"The Screen Actors Guild national negotiating committee is
coming to the bargaining table every day in good faith to negotiate
a fair contract for actors," Rosenberg said.