[+supernova+]

They can.

[jalapeno_wildchild]

isn't SAG getting that last,best and final offer sometime this week? one positive side, is that if they're indeed waiting for the turn out of the july 7th vote, at least there's no strike which means the shows that are going into production will already be back at work.

it seems to me, that if SAG were going to strike they would've already taken a strike authorization vote.

[lancer1993]

But as it's been said before even without an official strike many productions are not starting up 'cause the studio doesn't want to be left with half completed projects because they just don't know, which is the hardest part.

[+supernova+]

Yeah, I read alot of production is going to wrap next week, but I wonder if other productions will continue even if they don't have SAG waivers.

[crazy_diamond]

Thanks for the info Susan, I just like to say good on Tom Hanks

[jalapeno_wildchild]

Originally Posted by +supernova+ (View Post) Yeah, I read alot of production is going to wrap next week, but I wonder if other productions will continue even if they don't have SAG waivers.

i know that Grey's Anatomy goes back into production tomorrow. it sounds like they will keep working until they're forced to stop,otherwise i would think they would have started production earlier.

[- Tinkerbell -]

I keep hoping for some good news, every morning when i come into this thread. I guess no luck yet

[jalapeno_wildchild]

me to Loves to Burn. you can keep to the knowledge that there has been no strike authorization yet, that's the one positive thing i keep in mind during all this.

[+supernova+]

SAG PRESS RELEASE:

Dear Member: The Screen Actors Guild National Executive Committee voted to authorize Screen Actors Guild to undertake a campaign to encourage SAG members who are dual card holders to vote NO on the ballot for the AFTRA Prime Time Television tentative agreement. I want you to know why, as SAG’s Chief Negotiator, I strongly endorse our campaign for a NO vote. First, a NO vote does not mean a strike. In fact, it makes a strike less likely because it will send the clear signal that working actors aren’t satisfied with the AFTRA deal and, to get a deal, management will have to do better. It gives us more leverage not less at the negotiating table and makes it less likely we would have to consider the ultimate leverage of a strike. Any sane union leader wants to avoid a strike if at all possible. This is all about SAG’s negotiations, not the internal operations of AFTRA. We are not interfering in their internal affairs. Not when our negotiations cover the same actors, same networks and studios, �*same producers, same jobs and not when we represent over 90% of the shows in primetime and pay TV and 100% of movies. The only reason this issue exists is because AFTRA walked away from our joint bargaining relationship and then didn’t finish the job. SAG members three-year earnings under the TV/Theatrical contracts exceeded $4 billion. AFTRA members three-year earnings under this contract were less than $40 million. But if the AFTRA deal is ratified, the AMPTP will regard that as a signal from SAG members who are dual card holders that we are done with negotiations and that the AFTRA deal is enough. That is why a NO vote is so important. The AFTRA deal falls far short of “good enough”. It doesn’t achieve most of the priorities we established in our joint SAG/AFTRA Wages and Working Conditions meetings across the country with hundreds of working actors. The AFTRA Deal: * Allows non-union new media production. * Doesn’t put enough new money in working actors pockets or increase pension/health contributions enough and doesn’t include an increase for mileage. * Doesn’t provide enough protection to actors negotiating clip consent in the future. * Provides no increases in DVD residuals. * Provides no protection from product integration abuses. * Doesn’t protect collectively bargained force majeure protections. * Eliminates most residuals for reruns of productions made for new media. Most importantly, the AFTRA deal allows our signatory employers to produce programming made for new media entirely non-union. The AFTRA deal would pay no residuals for almost all made for new media programming when rerun on new media. Even if SAG overcomes the non-union/no residuals problems and negotiates a better contract, AFTRA’s contract won’t be upgraded with these improvements. AFTRA has no “me too” favored nations clause for improvements, other than for force majeure and exhibition windows. This would set up AFTRA as the cheaper, more producer-friendly alternative in new media. When unions compete with different contract terms, actors lose. It starts a race to the bottom that SAG doesn’t want to win. AFTRA claims that a “sunset clause” in the deal will provide the opportunity to fix any problems in three-years. Who thinks that the same employers who have refused to improve the unfair home video/DVD formula for over 20 years, will jump at the chance to put new media residuals back in place after they have eliminated them? Or agree to all union productions when they have produced non-union under the same contract? If programming rerun on ABC pays residuals but programming rerun on ABC.com doesn’t, where do you think original scripted programming will quickly migrate? For all of these reasons, I urge you to vote NO on the AFTRA deal. I do so without any personal or institutional hostility to AFTRA members or leadership. A No vote is not an attack on AFTRA. It is simply a recognition that these negotiations should conclude with a contract that is fair for actors and, one that all actors can support. Please feel free to respond to contract2008@sag.org with your thoughts and suggestions. In solidarity, Doug Allen

[lancer1993]

I agree it's unfair if the studios/networks are setting up websites for the sole reason to reduce the amounts they pay out in residuals, IMO they should get the same no matter how it is viewed.

[crazy_diamond]

Thanks for the update Susan

[jalapeno_wildchild]

thanks for the update Susan.

[mcdreamylover]

From ACTORS' STRIKE LOOMING

ACTORS' STRIKE LOOMING A look at what's at stake should Hollywood shut down - again Alex Strachan , Canwest News Service Published: Monday, June 23, 2008 It's the summer rerun no one wants to see. Hollywood's dream factory is weeks away from a potential labour shutdown that would mark the second major walkout by film and television workers in eight months. The contract between the 120,000 member Screen Actors Guild and the Hollywood studios expires June 30. And while union officials have yet to call for a strike vote, the rhetoric in recent days - from both sides - has escalated to a pitch that more resembles a spat between jilted lovers on Desperate Housewives than it does a delicate labour negotiation between the two most powerful players in Hollywood's entertainment industry. . WHAT'S AT STAKE The issues are the same as those which divided striking writers and the major Hollywood studios for more than three months. That strike started Nov. 5 and ended Feb. 12 after the studios and striking writers agreed to a complicated formula involving compensation for use of writers' work in new media such as online downloads and live streaming over the Internet. The writers' deal mirrored one signed in January by the 7,500-member Directors Guild of America, which represents filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese, and TV directors such as 24's Jon Cassar and The Shield's Paris Barclay. . ACTORS' COMPLICATIONS There are added complications with the actors' contract negotiations, however. The actors' union wants to negotiate what it considers fair compensation for the use of clips on network websites, as well as royalties for Internet download services like iTunes, neither of which are written into the directors' and writers' contracts. The union also wants more money for new media residuals than that agreed to by the writers' and directors' unions. The actors' union also wants performers to have the right to approve product placement in those film and TV productions where a performer is implied to endorse a particular product. . NO LOVE LOST BETWEEN RIVAL UNIONS There are two unions that represent Hollywood actors, and they don't see eye to eye. The smaller American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), which represents 70,000 performers, primarily in radio and TV, has reached a tentative agreement with the Hollywood studios. The results of a ratification vote are expected July 8. That has infuriated leaders of the larger Screen Actors Guild. SAG officials believe AFTRA's tentative agreement has undercut their own ability to negotiate. SAG officials initially asked AFTRA leaders to wait until SAG had concluded talks with the studios before voting on a new contract. AFTRA leaders refused, however, and are upset by what they perceived to be bullying tactics from the larger union. . WHO'S WHO AFTRA represents voice-over announcers, newsreaders, narrators and recording artists, as well as TV actors on such programs as 'Til Death, Rules of Engagement, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Flight of the Conchords and the filmed-in-Vancouver Reaper. SAG, on the other hand, represents actors in virtually all U.S.-based film and TV productions, from bit players and character actors to major stars such as George Clooney and Angelina Jolie. Nearly 40,000 performers are members of both unions. . SANDRA OH VS. TOM HANKS Grey's Anatomy star Sandra Oh recorded a so-called "robo" phone message late last week urging dual SAG and AFTRA members to turn the deal down. This past weekend, however, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Tom Hanks became the first high-profile actor to sign an e-mail petition urging AFTRA members to vote yes on the studios' offer. Jeffrey Tambor, James Cromwell, Mike Farrell, Morgan Fairchild and Tim Daly also signed the e-mail, according to The Hollywood Reporter. AFTRA officials have accused SAG's leadership of interfering in their union's internal affairs. . THE PROS AND CONS OF A STRIKE VOTE While no one appears eager for a strike - on either side - emotions are running dangerously high. Industry observers worry that the split between the two actors' unions may prompt the studios to overplay their hand, just at that point where the contract negotiations have reached their most delicate phase. SAG's chief negotiator, Doug Allen, said last week that a new contract is unlikely to be settled by next week, based on the slow pace of negotiations in recent days. He did not hint whether the union will call for a strike authorization vote, however. The Screen Actors Guild requires a 75-per-cent majority for any strike authorization to pass. The process would likely take two weeks to complete. A strike vote is a risky strategy for the union. On the one hand, a strong mandate would give union negotiators more leverage in their talks with the studios. On the other, a weak mandate, or a failure to even reach the 75-per-cent required for a strike, would tip the scales the studios' way. SAG represents more 90 per cent of the performers in scripted TV series, and all actors who appear in feature films. Many of the union's 120,000 members are unemployed, however, and it's likely those members who will decide the result if and when a strike vote is called. . STRIKE'S EFFECTS If a strike were to happen, moviegoers won't notice the effects at first. Most major movie productions have already been shut down, in anticipation of a difficult and protracted labour negotiation. It can take as long as two years for a studio feature film to reach theatres once it's in production, so the earliest moviegoers would notice the results of a prolonged actors' strike would be Christmas, 2009. TV viewers are likely to notice much more quickly, however. The hosts of nearly all reality TV shows are SAG members, as are many if not all late-night talk show hosts. That means the networks would not be able to rely on reality-TV shows or late-night talk shows to fill the void, as they did during the writers' strike. . LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION - FOR SOME Production has heated up on more than 20 scripted TV series, even though production has ground to a halt for most feature films. Series such as House and CSI have cancelled their traditional April-July hiatus in a scramble to complete as many episodes as possible before production is possibly shut down. No more than a handful of new episodes are likely to be completed if a strike is called, however. And not all series are in production. While production continues on House, CSI, Heroes and My Name is Earl, other popular series, such as Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives, have adopted a wait-and-see attitude, and are on hold. . THE POTENTIAL ECONOMIC EFFECTS A recent study by the U.S. economic think-tank the Milken Institute estimated that the writers' strike cost the southern California economy more than $2 billion, and the loss of 37,000 jobs. A long actors' strike, coming so soon after the writers' strike, could have an even more devastating effect. It would also have a ripple effect on U.S.-based TV and movie production in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and other Canadian cities where series and feature films are made. A prolonged strike would also delay the start of the fall TV season, which is officially set to begin Sept. 15, after the Emmy Awards. . NO END IN SIGHT The last time the fall TV season was delayed by a labour dispute was in 1988. Ironically, that strike, by Hollywood writers, changed the way much of today's TV is made. It coincided with the growth of cable and specialty channels, and hastened the erosion of the traditional network audience. If an actors' strike were to happen, no one, least of all those involved, knows how this story will end. As with anything to do with TV, viewers can only stay tuned. astrachan@canwest.com canada.com © Canwest News Service 2008

[jalapeno_wildchild]

thanks for posting mcdreamylover. this sounds like all like a repeat of what has been said and its an attempt to frighten people.

i still think they won't be stupid enough to call a strike authorization, given that both sides are sure to realize the effect it would have on hollywood.

the press release that SAG sent out proves that they know the last thing you want to do is strike and any sane union will do anything to avoid it.

[+supernova+]

That's the same article I posted the other day. But thanks!