GEORGE CLOONEY - CLOONEY REFUSES TO BUST STRIKE

Oscar nominated actor/director GEORGE CLOONEY has boosted the spirits of New York City strikers by refusing to break picket lines to shoot forthcoming film MICHAEL CLAYTON.

Workers at the Crown Plaza LaGuardia hotel have been on strike for 16 months after management refused to recognise their August 2004 vote to join the New York Hotel Trades Council.

Union official JOHN TURCHIANO tells the New York Daily News an associate producer from the film contacted him yesterday to say the Clooney camp had refused to cross the line.

However, Clooney's spokesman STAN ROSENFIELD counters, "It is true they contacted us, and it is also true that the decision not to shoot there was made well before they contacted us."

But Turchiano believes the GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK director has given the strikers new hope: "This is such a big, emotional lift for the hotel workers."