Although trade journals had predicted that a deal between the American Federation
of Television and Radio Artists would be struck by today (Friday), AFTRA President
Roberta Reardon on Thursday said only that "We're making progress," while published
reports indicated that the bargaining talks may spill into the weekend. Nevertheless, most
observers expressed the conviction that the two sides will reach an agreement within
days. They were less certain about whether a similar agreement would be thrashed
out between the AMPTP and the Screen Actors Guild. Indeed, entertainment attorney
Jonathan Handel, a frequent blogger on Hollywood's labor unrest, predicted that if
no agreement between SAG and the studios/networks is reached by June 30, SAG negotiators
are not likely to seek strike authorization since they may not be able to persuade
75 percent of their members that they can force the AMPTP to accept a better deal
than the ones negotiated with AFTRA, the WGA, and the DGA. The more likely scenario,
Handel wrote Thursday in the legal daily Los Angeles Daily Journal is that producers
will halt production until a deal is reached -- in effect, imposing a de facto lockout.
"Let's hope last year's work stoppage doesn't yield a bad sequel as well," Handel
concluded.
16/05/2008
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