SAG, AMPTP Crisis to Linger

SAG, AMPTP crisis to linger
Contract's expiration date at center of stalemate
By DAVE MCNARY

The SAG stalemate is here to stay for at least a few more weeks, as it's unlikely that either side is going to budge on the issue of when the feature-primetime contract expires.
Any hopes for a quick back-channel solution to the impasse have faded in the wake of the decision by the national board of the Screen Actors Guild to reject the "last, best, final" offer from the majors.

The guild has signaled it's willing to accept that offer except that it's also insisting that the deal must expire on June 30, 2011 -- three years after its current contract expired -- because it needs to remain aligned with the WGA, AFTRA and DGA expirations. The majors are saying the deal has to last a full three years from ratification, taking the expiration to at least March 2012, because all of its contracts run three years and it needs the guarantee of as much labor peace as possible.

Early indications that have emerged this week are that neither side is in any mood to compromise, such as splitting the difference and agreeing to an expiration in late 2011.

Instead, one likely scenario is that SAG leaders will leave the issue in abeyance until they complete most or all of their joint negotiation with AFTRA on a new commercials contract with the advertising industry. Those talks launched Monday in New York under a news blackout with the schedule calling for a full week of talks this week, a break next week and three more weeks of talks up to the March 31 expiration.

SAG and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers have not commented about the impasse since the weekend. SAG's board also decided Saturday on a split vote against sending out a strike authorization to members, which would have needed a steep 75% endorsement from those voting to pass. SAG's website, however, still endorses a strike authorization and blasts the AMPTP's offer.

For its part, the AMPTP's website still contains a counter that calculates how much money SAG members have lost by failing to accept the congloms' three-year offer on June 30, including $250 million in pay gains. As of Thursday, the loss figure had topped $55.3 million.

Meanwhile, the two factions at SAG have continued to battle each other in the wake of the moderates, who have a slim majority on the national board, firing Doug Allen as national exec director a month ago and replacing him with former general counsel David White. Members of the Membership First faction have been picketing SAG headquarters ever since, accusing the board of a "go along to get along" strategy that doesn't represent the interests of actors -- particularly in new-media jurisdiction and compensation.

They're also contending that Allen should be rehired.

Scott Wilson, who has organized the picketing, is planning a rally outside 20th Century Fox headquarters from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday. He said Fox is being targeted due to its aggressive plans to migrate replays of its shows to the Web -- thus leaving actors with far smaller residuals.
Read