Hollywood Actors' Strike Averted
L O S A N G E L E S, July 4, 2001 -- Hollywood actors dashed yearlong fears of ashow-business strike by accepting a tentative contract deal aimedat improving wages for little-known performers.
The three-year deal recommended Tuesday night by negotiators forthe Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television andRadio Artists now must be approved by a majority of the unions'135,000 members. Their previous contract expired at 12:01 a.m.Sunday. Union leaders said they were "ecstatic" with the settlement. "Our main goal in these negotiations really (was) to help themiddle-income actor, the actor that you all recognize but sometimesdon't know their names," said AFTRA President Shelby Scott at anews conference that followed an eight-hour negotiating session."I think they will be pleased when they learn the details of thispact."
Deal 'In the Ballpark' of New WGA Pact
The tentative agreement is the second Hollywood labor deal inthe past month. The Writers Guild of America settled its newcontract in early June, and many analysts predicted that actorswould follow suit. The writers secured a 3.5 percent raise in minimum pay formovies and TV shows, and SAG spokesman Greg Krizman said theactors' deal "was in that ballpark." The deal includes higher pay for acting work in programsrebroadcast on cable, increased contributions to actor health plansand higher salaries for stunt coordinators and TV guest stars. Theguilds' did not release specifics of the settlement.
Boosting Pay for Some 75,000 Actors
Union negotiators said their top concern was increasing pay forthe nearly 75,000 members who secure acting work in any given year.About 6 percent of SAG members, the larger of the two unions, earnregular middle-class pay between $30,000 and $70,000 annually. About 71 percent earn less than $7,500 a year or nothing at all. Only about 2 percent of the guilds' membership earn more than$100,000 a year, including multimillion-dollar celebrities such asJack Nicholson and Russell Crowe. SAG president William Daniels characterized the proposal as"equitable for both sides." Negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and TelevisionProducers, which represents studios and networks, began May 15 andprogressed slowly until the final days before the previous contractdeadline. Nick Counter, president of the producers alliance, said hismember companies unanimously approved the deal recommended by theactors.
Fears of a Walkout
The performer guilds never called for a strike authorizationvote, but fears of a walkout rumbled through the entertainmentindustry for much of last year when the robust economy promptedspeculation that union demands would be steeper. A strike would have severely damaged the Southern Californiaeconomy, costing billions of dollars in lost revenue. The fluctuating market has since cooled that sentiment and hasbeen credited with pressuring both sides to reach a compromisewithout a work stoppage. Last year, the actors' unions staged a six-month strike bycommercial actors that might have driven as much as $1 billionworth of work overseas. Some actors said that walkout strengthened the guilds' standingin these theatrical and television talks. Uncertainty over the negotiations prompted studios to accelerateshooting on films currently in production, and Hollywood couldstill grind to a halt with a so-called "de facto strike" despitethe agreement. That's because producers will not start a new movie until anactor's deal is made final, and then it takes nearly eight weeksfor the preproduction work to be completed. Fall TV shows, which begin filming in the summer, probably won'tbe delayed as long as the guild members approve the deal.