GEORGE CLOONEY - SCREEN ACTORS GUILD POSTPONES STRIKE VOTE

SCREEN ACTORS GUILD POSTPONES STRIKE VOTE

The Hollywood actor's union has postponed a vote on a possible strike due to a split among its members.

While 2,542 of the Screen Actors Guild's (SAG) members have publicly endorsed a ballot over industrial action, some 1,373 are opposed to a vote.

The SAG wants its members to strike over what it sees as an unfair contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

Under current agreements, actors receive a one-off fee for their work, rather than residual payments when the shows are repeated or screened online.

Studios were alarmed by the SAG's public support for the striking Writers' Guild of America (WGA) during their three-month industrial action but with the economic climate uncertain, many high-profile actors are resolutely against a strike.

A New York division of the SAG called for a delay on a strike vote due to the current economic downturn while more than 130 stars added their endorsement to voting no against a potential strike authorisation.

"We feel very strongly that SAG members should not vote to authorise a strike at this time," the group - including George Clooney and Tom Hanks - said in a letter to the union last week.

"We don't think that an authorisation can be looked at as merely a bargaining tool. It must be looked at as what it is - an agreement to strike if negotiations fail."

Doug Allen, the president of the SAG has today confirmed the strike ballot planned for January 2nd has been postponed and a "special face-to-face" board meeting convened on January 12th and 13th.

"This division does not help our effort to get an agreement from the AMPTP that our members will ratify," he explained.

A ballot has been postponed until January 14th at the earliest.

Should 75 per cent of members approve industrial action, the SAG could authorise a strike, which could disrupt the Oscars on February 22nd.