In Review

04 December 2008 04:49 BST

Screen Actors' Guild rejects studios' pay offer

The leading Hollywood actors' union has rejected a new pay deal proposed by film and television studios.

A three-year contract agreed between the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists (AFTRA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) earlier this week had further weakened the negotiating power of the Screen Actors' Guild (SAG), which has some 120,000 members.

But the SAG has rejected the AMPTP's final pay offer on the grounds that it fails to meet their demands for remuneration policies when actors' work is reused on DVD, mobile phones and online.

The AMPTP is believed to have offered the SAG a compensation package worth around $250 million (£125 million) but has now hit out at the actors' guild for increasing potential harm to the thousands of Hollywood workers whose lives depends on a thriving film and television industry.

"The last thing we need is a long, hot summer of labour strife that puts even more pressure on a badly struggling economy and deprives audiences of the entertainment they clearly desire in such difficult times," a statement said.

"Today's meeting demonstrated that the SAG's Membership First contingent unreasonably expects to obtain more in these negotiations than directors, writers and other actors obtained during their negotiations.

"AMPTP has already achieved four major labour agreements this year," it added.

"The refusal of the SAG's Hollywood leadership to accept this offer is the latest in a series of actions by the SAG leaders that, in our opinion, puts labour peace at risk."

A new Hollywood strike is, however, unlikely due to the problematic US economy, the AFTRA-AMPTP deal and the 75 per cent approval rate needed among union members for the SAG to approve a strike.