Over the weekend, SAG’s National Negotiating Committee got some heavyweight support from the union’s National Board of Directors.
On Saturday, July 26 the board passed a resolution reaffirming the importance of jurisdiction over all new media productions as well as residuals for all made-for-new media programs. The resolution passed unanimously 68-to-zip.
This is a vote of confidence for the SAG negotiators who have championed these issues. The union negotiators claim the producers’ “final offer” lagged in these areas therefore, they rejected it.
In a press release on the SAG website, SAG National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Doug Allen praised the resolution and the National Board of Directors for getting behind it.
Meanwhile, the reaction from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers was totally hard-line. On the AMPTP website, there is a July 26 statement defending its “final offer.”
The statement begins with an ominous prediction. “The continued refusal of SAG’s negotiators to accept AMPTP’s final offer means that actors will continue to work indefinitely under the expired contract.”
Stalemate, I believe, is still the best word to describe the state of these actor contract talks.
