A-listers fire back for SAG
Hollywood Newsroom is now Buzz Newsroom! Visit and bookmark our new site. Buzz is bigger and better, including sports, world news, gadgets and the entertainment news that you're used to. Same staff, just more stuff! Why Fark, Drudge and Huffington when you can Buzz!?The battle of dueling A-listers heated up Tuesday as SAG enlisted 67 actors — including Jack Nicholson, Ben Stiller and Martin Sheen — to back its campaign against the ratification of AFTRA’s tentative pact with the studios and networks.
The move comes just days after Tom Hanks, Kevin Spacey and more than 100 other guild members went on record in support of AFTRA’s contract and urged a “yes” vote on its ratification.
For SAG, which completed its 37th negotiating session with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers on Tuesday, the AFTRA ratification vote is crucial. The guild will have little leverage at the bargaining table if AFTRA’s pact is approved; if it’s voted down, the membership will have sent a strong signal that it is committed to achieving more.
The issues splitting the unions, as well as factions of SAG, are wages, pension and health contributions; residuals for all new media; no non-union media productions; protections from product integration; an increase in DVD residuals; and preserving force majeure protections. Those opposing ratification of AFTRA’s pact say the gains in its tentative deal are not enough.
- from THR