With SAG suddenly in a hurry to get to the bargaining table, the majors are in the driver’s seat in upcoming negotiations with the actors unions, Variety reports.
In the wake of Saturday’s decision by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists to ditch its longstanding bargaining partnership with SAG on the feature-primetime contract, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers held off Monday on deciding which union it will sit down with first.
SAG, which earlier spurned offers to start negotiations in March, now contends it should be first up because it covers all film work and the lion’s share of TV work done by thesps. SAG prexy Alan Rosenberg noted in a message to members that studios want to end the uncertainty over a possible strike, further motivating the AMPTP to start talks as soon as possible as the June 30 contract expiration looms.
“We believe the AMPTP will be eager to do so, especially since motion picture start dates are critical,” he said.
However, it’s widely expected that the congloms will start talks as early as this week with AFTRA, the smaller of the two unions, on the three primetime shows it covers. And that move should bolster the companies’ leverage once they start negotiations with SAG by making the notion of going on strike less attractive.
SAG’s new request for negotiations to begin as soon as possible marks an about-face from the position it took after the majors announced they were ready to go with talks in mid-February. It was previously unwilling to start negotiations until after it had completed its official preparations — despite pressure from high-profile members George Clooney, Robert De Niro, Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep to start ASAP.
