After the Screen Actors Guild’s negotiating committee passed an advisory motion to its national board seeking a strike authorization vote on Wednesday, Hollywood is waiting for the newly elected board to decide if a vote to strike will be held by the guild’s membership.
SAG hopes to show that “the members of the guild express their confidence in their leadership by authorizing them to take all actions necessary to protect the interests of the membership, including a strike,” the union said in its motion.
Earlier this week, SAG’s national board president Alan Rosenberg and national executive director and chief negotiator Doug Allen asked News Corp.’s Peter Chernin, Disney’s Bob Iger and AMPTP’s president Nick Counter to reopen negotiations between actors and producers.
Mr. Counter rejected the request on AMPTP’s behalf, saying, “We do not believe that it would be productive to resume negotiations at this time given SAG’s continued insistence on terms which the companies have repeatedly rejected.”
AMPTP criticized SAG’s motion in light of the current national economic turmoil. “It is unrealistic for SAG negotiators now to expect even better terms during this grim financial climate,” producers said in a statement.
Should the national board agree, the guild will need a 75% yes vote from the membership to officially call a strike.
SAG’s national board is scheduled to meet Oct. 18.