ENTERTAINMENT : Strike That Caused Studios to Boycott N.Y. Is Over

A bitter strike that produced a costly seven-month boycott of New York by the major movie studios ended Thursday with union members accepting the same contract they rejected a month ago.

“Union members have voted to accept the contract despite the major wage cuts it entails because we want to end the producers’ boycott of New York filmmaking and get everyone back to work,” said Wally Stocklin, president of Local 52 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.

The strike cost the financially troubled city more than $100 million in lost business, although it remains to be seen whether the settlement came in time to bring some feature films to the Big Apple this summer.

Officials said the city would absorb a $1-billion hit had the strike lasted through the summer. Movie making contributes an estimated $3 billion per year to the economy, making it the city’s third-largest industry.

Studios were planning to relocate several major films--including “The Babe Ruth Story” with John Goodman and “Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune” with Al Pacino--to other cities because of the strike.

The members of Local 52 voted 801 to 449 to approve the contract, which cuts back overtime and weekend pay.

West Coast unionists accepted the same deal last year; striking members of the Cinematographers Union Local 644 on the East Coast did the same last week.

The three-year contract provides a 4% annual raise, along with increases of 50% in pension and 60% in welfare payments. In return, the studios received more flexible schedules for any project filming here more than five days.

“The new contract represents a 33% overall loss in compensation for our members for night and weekend work,” Stocklin said.

The vote last month to reject the contract was 606 to 393. The voters rejected a tentative agreement worked out by the union leaders with five major film producers.

The strike for the union’s 2,000 members began Oct. 30, as did the unofficial boycott of the city by Columbia Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. and MGM-Pathe. Orion Pictures participated as a distributor.

Joel Grossman, the chief negotiator for the producers, was not in his California office to comment on the ratification and its ramifications.