SAG contract stalemate continues

Variety, 9.24.08
by Dave McNary

Despite last week's shift in control of the board, the SAG contract stalemate with the the majors shows no signs of any quick resolution -- and may drag on for the rest of the year.

SAG's leaders have continued to insist they won't budge from their stance that the guild must receive a sweeter deal than the DGA, WGA and AFTRA. And the newly empowered dissidents have stayed silent on whether they'll buck the holdout strategy.
Full article

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Backstage.com, 9.25.08
"Hollywood Shuffle"
Will change at SAG and trouble on Wall Street lead to a deal?
By Lauren Horwitch

"Last week the entertainment industry was hit with two shocks for which reverberations may be felt for months, if not years, to come. On Sept. 15, troubling news from Wall Street — including the Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy filing, the largest in U.S. history — roiled the world economy and sent shares of major media companies such as Time Warner, Sony, and Disney tumbling. On Sept. 18, candidates from the Screen Actors Guild's upstart faction Unite for Strength unexpectedly won 18 seats on the guild's national and Hollywood boards — enough to take control away from the dominant faction Membership First, which won 14 seats. The addition of UFS members, who have criticized SAG president Alan Rosenberg and national executive director Doug Allen's hard bargaining stance against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, raises hopes that SAG and the studios might head back to the negotiating table sooner rather than later — and perhaps even hammer out a TV/theatrical deal by the end of the year.

Though the consequences of a national economic disaster don't compare with a game of musical chairs in one union, both events could have significant impact on actors' futures. Membership First and UFS board members may soon face their first major challenge together: the prospect of losing the only deal on the table. Full article

Thanks PeachyBC, majorcase-ci.com