SAG Rejects AMPTP’s Final Offer

LOS ANGELES: The Screen Actors Guild has rejected the final offer from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), citing the "surprise demand" to extend the terms of the proposed contract to 2012.

The National Board of Directors of the actors’ union rejected the proposal—which AMPTP on Friday called its "last, best and final offer"—by a 73-percent margin. In a statement, SAG stated: "We entered this round of negotiations sending an unmistakably clear message that we were ready to make a deal. In an effort to put the town back to work, our negotiator agreed to modify the guild’s bargaining position to bring the guild in line with the deals made by our sister unions." However, SAG notes, the producers are calling for the contract to be valid until 2012, which the union describes as "regressive and damaging and clearly signals the employers’ unwillingness to agree to the deal they established with other entertainment unions. The demand for a new term of agreement was not part of their final offer of June 30, 2008; it was not part of the federally mediated talks of November 2008, and should not have been inserted into the discussions when we returned to negotiations on February 17, 2009. What management presented as a compromise is, in fact, an attempt to separate Screen Actors Guild from other industry unions. By attempting to extend our contract expiration one year beyond the other entertainment unions, the AMPTP intends to deleverage our bargaining position from this point forward."

SAG concludes: "The AMPTP has clearly stated their need and desire for financial certainty and industry peace. This new proposal does the exact opposite, and will only result in constant negotiating cycles and continued labor unrest."

Responding to SAG’s refusal, the producers stressed that they believe the offer is "strong and fair…We have kept our offer on the table—and even enhanced it—despite the historically unprecedented economic crisis that has clobbered our nation and our industry. The producers have always sought a full three-year deal with SAG, just as we negotiated with all the other unions and guilds, and have offered SAG a way to achieve an earlier expiration date without contributing to further labor uncertainty. We simply cannot offer SAG a better deal than the rest of the industry achieved under far better economic conditions than those now confronting our industry."