Actors Strike??

[Geekyfanboy]

Things Not Looking Good Between SAG & AMPTP

It's beginning to look like a new contract between the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) will probably not happen by current contract's end-date of June 30.

The AMPTP issued a statement late last night that indicated that they are tired, "frustrated and discouraged" in their dealings with SAG's negotiators. They also indicated that it's not likely a deal will be forthcoming by the quickly approaching due date.

Will this mean strike? Maybe not. SAG leaders indicated through their director Doug Allen in a statement to the Associated Press that the guild is prepared to continue negotiations into July at this point in hopes of staving-off a work stoppage. This news sounds hopeful in light of the fact that no formal call for a strike authorization has been issued to the guild's membership.

SAG says that they are willing to continue talking about the main point of contention — new-media compensation — through July and draft some of the proposals approved by the WGA, DGA and AFTRA but other points in this area need to have "many changes to the framework."

There is also some disagreement within SAG membership itself on how the organization has been treating 40,000 of its members who also hold a card-carrying membership in AFTRA, the other smaller union that represents actors.

So, it appears that the U.S. entertainment industry and all the fans and patrons who pay to watch or earn a living from the products made in Hollywood are once again in a holding pattern waiting to see which way the wind blows next.

Stay tuned!

http://www.sliceofscifi.com/2008/06/13/things-not-looking-good-between-sag-amptp/#more-9751

[Geekyfanboy]

Actors guild closes in on vote to call strike
October 1, 2008, 6:32 pm

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - The Screen Actors Guild will move a step closer to a strike on Wednesday .

The negotiating committee of the Hollywood performers' guild is expected to approve a measure asking for the rank and file's approval of a work stoppage, and the measure probably will pass, according to SAG sources with knowledge of the meeting.

A spokeswoman for the guild confirmed that the negotiating committee would meet but said she did not know the meeting's agenda.

MembershipFirst -- the dominant political party among the guild's Hollywood-based members, which favors a hard-line stance toward producers -- recently lost its majority status on the guild's national board to a consortium of factions in Hollywood, New York and the regional branches that favor a more moderate approach. But MembershipFirst still controls nine of the 13 votes on the negotiating committee, making the measure's passage likely. During the summer, the guild's national executive committee gave the negotiating committee the authority to seek strike authorization.
The move toward a strike comes after guild national president Alan Rosenberg and national executive director Doug Allen sent a letter Monday to three top executives -- Disney's Robert Iger, News Corp.'s Peter Chernin and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers ( AMPTP ) president Nick Counter -- asking to reopen negotiations. That offer was rebuffed by Counter, who is the chief negotiator for the major studios and production companies.

Allen issued a statement Tuesday regarding Counter's rejection: "We are disappointed to hear that the employers and their AMPTP representatives are refusing to engage in the process necessary to complete a deal. We do not believe that their rejection of our reasonable request is in the best interests of our members or the industry. Our national negotiating committee will be meeting later this week to consider management's response."

FIRST STEP
Several more steps would have to happen before a work stoppage would take effect. One national board member said the fact that guild leaders would consider a strike while the national economy is foundering shows the desperate shape they are in after months of negotiations, which have yet to produce a deal.

"The only people that seem to be oblivious to the condition of the United States of America right now and the financial situation that we're in are Doug Allen, Alan Rosenberg and MembershipFirst, " said the source. "The idea that we would be going on strike now is absurd in Fellini proportions. "
Entertainment labor attorney Scott Witlin of Akin Gump in Los Angeles agreed, pointing out that SAG's leadership is doing this before the first board meeting with its new members.
"This is a direct result of the fact that MembershipFirst has lost power and they're trying to act as a lame duck and pass something that the new leadership would not authorize," said Witlin, who represents mostly producers in labor and employment contracts. "It's just a cynical attempt by the group that was in office to set policy beyond their terms of office."
If the measure passes, a referendum would be sent to members; 75 percent would have to approve the authorization before the national board could call for a work stoppage. A simple majority of the board would then have to approve a strike. The new board will not be officially seated until the third week of October, and it is doubtful that a referendum could be sent out to members and voted on before then.

PRODUCTION SLOWING
It also is uncertain whether three-fourths of guild members would support a strike. Not only are many still recovering from the effects of the 100-day writers' strike, which stretched from November to February, but film production across the country -- which had been booming because of generous state tax incentives -- has slowed in regions outside of Hollywood because of the stalled contract talks.

Additionally, in the recent election, members voted out many board members who sit on the negotiating committee, including its chair, David Jolliffe, in favor of the challenging faction, Unite for Strength. The members of the negotiating committee, however, remained unchanged because technically they still are in negotiations on a new contract.
The AMPTP issued its final offer to the guild June 30. SAG made a counteroffer that was rejected. Since then, Rosenberg and Allen have maintained that they have had informal, back-channel discussions with studio heads, but guild sources and sources close to producers say those conversations have not taken place. Witlin said the studios hold the cards right now.
"If they get strike authorization, almost certainly the ( AMPTP 's) final offer comes off the table, and when SAG comes back, asking for a deal, anything that the employer will give them will be a worse deal," he said. "If they don't get strike authorization, then they've completely squandered their bargaining power because management will know there is no strike, and they'll force them to take a deal."

[Rico]

Geez - and I thought this was settled.  What's your gut say Kenny?  Are they really going to strike?  If they do, do you think it will go on a long time?

[KingIsaacLinksr]

*slaps forehead*

So much for peace.  Is it just me or is September cursed?  Oh wait, its October....

King

[Geekyfanboy]

 SAG Negotiators Ask Board for Strike Vote
Source: The Associated Press
October 2, 2008


The Screen Actors Guild's negotiating committee voted Wednesday to support a strike authorization vote, a tactic meant to break stalled contract talks with Hollywood studios.

The recommendation, approved 11-2, now goes to the guild's national board for review, and would ultimately need approval of 75 percent of the some 120,000 voting guild members.

"My personal opinion is, yes, we will achieve a strike authorization," said Anne Marie Johnson, a spokeswoman for Membership First, a faction of actors that had controlled SAG's national board until it narrowly lost its majority in elections last month.

"Membership First has always been a strong advocate of having a strike authorization with us while we're negotiating," Johnson said. "That's really a wise way to negotiate."

Contract talks dealing with primetime TV shows and movies have been at a standstill since the previous contract expired June 30.

Actors have been working under the terms of the old deal in hopes of avoiding a repeat of a 100-day writers strike that ended in February.

The studios, represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, said the economy is in trouble and urged actors not to strike.

"It is unrealistic for SAG negotiators now to expect even better terms during this grim financial climate," the AMPTP said in a statement. "This is the harsh economic reality, and no strike will change that reality."

The SAG's national board, a 71-member body, is scheduled to meet Oct. 18. A simple majority is needed to approve the call for a strike vote.

The guild on Monday called for talks to resume, sending the request in a letter addressed to the alliance, The Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Robert Iger and News Corp.'s Chief Operating Officer Peter Chernin.

The producers' chief negotiator, J. Nicholas Counter III, said he declined to resume talks because SAG continues to insist on terms the companies have rejected.

The guild wants union coverage of all shows made for the Internet, regardless of budget, and residual payments for actors on made-for-Internet shows that are reused on the Internet. It also demands protections for actors during work stoppages.

[Geekyfanboy]

Geez - and I thought this was settled.  What's your gut say Kenny?  Are they really going to strike?  If they do, do you think it will go on a long time?

I honestly don't know... if they do strike this will be devastating to the entertainment industry. We are still suffering from the effects of the writers strike. Good thing is that 75% of the actors need to approve it.. I think that might be tough as many of the actors are not big name celebrities and are just working actors barely making a living.

[Geekyfanboy]

This doesn't look good..

LOS ANGELES – The Screen Actors Guild said Saturday it will ask its members to authorize a strike after its first contract talks in four months with Hollywood studios failed despite the help of a federal mediator.

The guild said it adjourned talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers shortly before 1 a.m. after two marathon sessions with federal mediator Juan Carlos Gonzalez.
SAG, representing more than 120,000 actors in movies, television and other media, said in a statement that it will launch a "full-scale education campaign in support of a strike authorization. "
"We have already made difficult decisions and sacrifices in an attempt to reach agreement," the statement said. "Now it's time for SAG members to stand united and empower the national negotiating committee to bargain with the strength of a possible work stoppage behind them."

The statement did not specify what led to the impasse, saying only that "management continues to insist on terms we cannot responsibly accept." A SAG spokeswoman said she would not comment further. A call to the movie producers group, known as the AMPTP, was not immediately returned.
SAG's national board has already authorized its negotiating committee to call for a strike authorization vote if mediation failed. The vote would take more than a month and require more than 75 percent approval to pass.

SAG is seeking union coverage for all Internet-only productions regardless of budget and residual payments for Internet productions replayed online, as well as continued actor protections during work stoppages. But the AMPTP said it was untenable for SAG to demand a better deal than what writers, directors and another actors union accepted earlier in the year, especially now that the economy has worsened.

Earlier this week, the producers' group said it had reached its sixth labor deal this year, a tentative agreement on a three-year contract with the local branches of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts, accounting for 35,000 workers. The stagehands alliance accepted Internet provisions that were modeled on agreements with other unions, the producers group said.

Actors in prime-time television shows and movies have been working under the terms of a contract that expired June 30, with the hope of avoiding a repeat of the 100-day writers strike which shut down production of dozens of TV shows and cost the Los Angeles area economy an estimated $2.5 billion.

[Rico]

Another shorter TV season ahead - again?!?!  Geez!

[KingIsaacLinksr]

This is not a good time for the entertainment business to have this sort of problem.  Economy is in free-fall and companies are being penny pincher now?  Not a good idea.  They're the only business that can survive this economical issue relatively unscathed.  (I know, I know) But ehhh, w/e.  I just don't want another strike :(.  The Writer's strike didn't help shows much at all. 

King

P.S. you know what, just ignore this post....no idea what I was saying. 

[Meds]

Such a shame, this could end more TV shows.