ALAN ROSENBERG - ROSENBERG LOSES BID TO HALT SAG TALKS

ROSENBERG LOSES BID TO HALT SAG TALKS

Screen Actors Guild (SAG) president ALAN ROSENBERG has lost his court bid to temporarily delay the resumption of contract talks between the union and Hollywood studio bosses. The SAG leader and three other boardmembers filed suit in Los Angeles Count Superior Court earlier this week (begs02Feb09) to have ousted Doug Allen - the union's chief negotiator in the stalled discussions - reinstated as national executive director of the union.
Allen was fired at the end of January (09) after he was blamed for the lack of progress in contract discussions with movie executives.
Talks regarding a film and prime-time TV contract were due to resume on Tuesday (03Feb09), but Rosenberg and his fellow plaintiffs wanted to halt the meetings until they could rehire Allen.
However, Judge James Chalfant denied their request on Thursday (05Feb09), claiming they were unlikely to succeed in their bid.
The threat of a strike by the 120,000 SAG cardholders has been looming over Hollywood since their old labour pact expired in June 2008 after negotiations collapsed.