TOM HANKS - STRIKE LOOMS AS SAG/AMPTP TALKS STALL

The Screen Actors Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are expected to return to the bargaining table again today, but many observers are suggesting that the two sides are barely going through the motions of bargaining. On Friday, SAG leaders claimed once again in an update to members that the AMPTP had refused to match the union's concessions. The AMPTP, in turn, accused SAG of stalling so it could devote all of its energy to persuading AFTRA members to vote down a separate deal with the AMPTP negotiated by their leaders. The AFTRA vote is due to be announced on July 8, more than a week after the current SAG and AFTRA contracts expire on June 30. On Friday AFTRA National Executive Director Kim Roberts Hedgpeth called SAG's efforts "a disgrace" and took issue with SAG's notice to AFTRA members that rejection of the contract would not mean a strike. "The notion that one can reject a hard-fought contract, which exceeds industry 'pattern,' without backing it up with the courage of your convictions, is absurd," Hedgpeth said. Meanwhile, Tom Hanks, who SAG recently identified as an opponent of the AFTRA contract, added his name to a letter by other prominent AFTRA members who also are members of SAG calling for ratification of the agreement. The letter called it "a very good deal."

23/06/2008