Actors' Strike Ends After Six Months

L O S   A N G E L E S, Oct. 29 -- Representatives of television and radiocommercial actors have voted to go back to work, ending a six-monthstrike against advertisers that was longest talent walkout inHollywood history.

Actors can audition and attend calls starting Monday, saidScreen Actors Guild spokesman Greg Krizman.

“We know there are a lot of pent-up demands,” he saidSaturday.

The vote by about 150 members of the boards of SAG and theAmerican Federation of Television and Radio Artists was nearlyunanimous, Krizman said. The boards voted to end their stop-workorder, endorse an agreement worked out with advertisers lastweekend and send the deal to members who will cast their votes bymail.

Because rank-and-file reaction so far has been positive, Krizmansaid, the three-year contracts should be official by the end ofNovember.

Key Concessions

The advertising industry and commercial actors made keyconcessions on labor issues that ranged from the payment ofresiduals to jurisdiction over the potentially lucrative Internetmarket.

The industry agreed to continue to give actors residual paymentswhen their ads run on network television. The unions gave up theirdemand to spread the residual system to cable TV stations.

The advertising industry also agreed to recognize the union’sjurisdiction in Internet ads, which had been a contentious issue.

The unions claim a combined membership of 135,000.

Actors lost untold millions in commercial payments in the strikethat began May 1 and some found themselves hard-pressed to keep upwith car payments and mortgage bills.

The job action also cost the Los Angeles-area economy anestimated $125 million in lost production and drove commercialwork to Canada and Europe.