Finally some news of the SAG negotiations.
Film and television actors ratcheted up pressure on Hollywood’s major studios on Wednesday when negotiators, stalled in labor talks with producers, sought backing to put a strike authorization vote to guild members.
Contract negotiators for the Screen Actors Guild, which is the largest U.S. actors union with some 120,000 members, passed a resolution seeking the endorsement of SAG’s national board for guild members to vote on whether to call a work stoppage which, if one occurred, would be the second halt this year.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents major studios, shot back with its own statement asking, “Is this really the time for anyone in the entertainment business to be talking about going on strike?”
But SAG said a strike authorization vote by members “is necessary to overcome the employers’ intransigence.”
A strike authorization ballot is not a vote on a work halt, but it does give union leaders leverage in the contract talks that stalled back in July after a final offer from the AMPTP.
This contract has been up since the end of June and the entire town has been on hold waiting for these selfish actors to get off of their asses and make a decision. Now they are…5 months late…and in this economy they are going to vote for a strike (?) Just before the Holiday season (?) In a year that was crippled by the even dumber writer’s strike (?)
I’m a photographer in Hollywood and most of my year was spent limping by financially because of these 2 strikes and now it looks like we may go into yet another year of the same…or even worse. Does SAG realize that a strike will kill this town and not just the cheap producers and selfish members of the SAG board, but the restaurants, dry cleaners, general businesses and yes photographers will be strapped to the breaking point. Why have they not been locked in negotiations since the first of July and forced to work this out.
I may be wrong in regards to what needs for their members…but I was a SAG member for 20 years and usually all a strike does is drive work out of town. This is just typical.
Hello Michael and thanx for the comment….it is reaslly difficult for me to find info on the SAG strike and I appreciate it when people like you help us understand what is really going on….thanx so much