Strike Threat May Be Dwindling as Actors, Producers Report Progress

Prospects of a strike that could delay the start of the fall television season appeared to be dwindling Thursday night amid reports of growing progress by contract negotiators for Hollywood producers and two actors unions.

As talks went late into the night, representatives for the two unions and the producers said both sides had exchanged “compromise” proposals in an attempt to resolve major economic issues.

Key bargaining issues involve possible changes in the formulas by which performers receive residuals, the extra fees paid for reruns of taped or filmed material.

Early Thursday morning, the two sides set a 5 p.m. deadline for concluding bargaining on a new three-year contract, but they continued talking past the deadline, the second time they had done so in two days.

No Elaboration

Mark Locher, Screen Actors Guild (SAG) public relations director, confirmed that progress had been made in the talks, but he would not elaborate.

Carol Akiyama, senior vice president of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, said, “The fact that the discussions are continuing indicates an exchange of meaningful dialogue.”

Both Locher and Akiyama said the two sides are working hard to avert a strike. The old three-year contract between SAG and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, on the one hand, and the producers, on the other, expired a month ago, and it has been extended on a day-to-day basis since then.

A strike would interrupt filming of feature movies and prime-time television series, which already are in production for the fall season. It would not affect daytime soap operas, television news, radio shows or the filming of commercials, which are covered by other contracts.

Earlier this week, SAG and AFTRA, which bargain jointly for 92,000 actors, singers, dancers and stunt people, announced that they had received overwhelming approval from their members to call a strike if necessary.

Work Stoppage

If the negotiations break down and a strike is called, there will not be an immediate work stoppage because of procedures the two unions have for initiating a walkout. There would be no picketing before Tuesday at the earliest, said AFTRA spokeswoman Pamm Fair.

Negotiating sessions are being held at the producers’ Sherman Oaks headquarters. During much of the day, a source said, small groups of negotiators met in what are called “sidebar” meetings to resolve various issues.

“There’s a lot of compromises being made, but they’re all subject to change until we walk out of here with a handshake,” one union source said.

Sources on both sides said the unions had scaled back their wage proposal. Earlier this week, the actors had proposed a 22% increase spread over three years. That has been reduced to 18% spread over three years. The producers have been offering 9%.

Key Matters

According to sources on both sides, the key matters yet to be resolved continue to be four separate issues regarding residuals. The unions have strenuously objected to proposals by the producers that they say would seriously erode actors’ earnings from residuals.

On Thursday, a new element was injected into the talks. A dissident, conservative SAG group called Actors Working for an Actors Guild, which has been closely associated with Charlton Heston, issued a statement raising questions about the bargaining strategy of the unions’ negotiating team.

Morgan Paull, chairman of the dissident group, said that while he is satisfied with the progress in the bargaining, he objected to one approach that was taken by the union negotiators but later dropped. He said he opposed the bargaining committee’s “tying the Extras’ Guild proposals to our negotiations.”

Extras working on shows that are taped are represented by AFTRA and are covered under the contract currently being negotiated.

However, extras working on shows that are filmed are represented by the Screen Extras Guild in Hollywood and by the Screen Actors Guild in New York. They are not covered by the agreement now being negotiated.

Pact Expired

Their old contract expired at the end of January, and negotiations for a new three-year contract have been stalled for some time.

In several rounds of the actors’ talks, sources said, union negotiators raised matters relating to the extras’ contract.