SAG to Put Pressure on AFTRA, but Strike Still Not Likely

At a special session tomorrow (Friday), the Screen Actors Guild president and national executive director will attempt to persuade dual cardholders to refuse to ratify the prime time TV deal recently agreed upon by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

AFTRA’s national board is expected to approve the contract at meetings Friday and Saturday, writes Adweek. If the board approves the contract, it must then be approved by a majority of the group’s 70,000 members, about 44,000 of whom also hold SAG cards. Ratification of the contract could be blocked if SAG manages to convince dual cardholders to vote against it, but that is unlikely, considering the general support for the pact.

The tentative agreement on a three-year contract, covering work in scripted programming on network prime time, between AFTRA and Hollywood producers was reached on May 28. It is not clear what SAG officials object to in the contract.

Wachovia analyst Marci Ryvicker says (via Variety) that a strike is unlikely. “SAG is the last labor union to negotiate with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers, which reduces its negotiating leverage considerably. As one source put it, SAG is the caboose on a train that is traveling full speed, yet its demands are the most stringent of all the labor unions.”

SAG also suffers from “interunion strife,” making it difficult to achieve the 75 percent vote threshold required for a strike authorization, she says.