A possible strike by the Screen Actors Guild may soon be averted.

These paragraphs are taken from a report done by Variety.

"Despite the Screen Actors Guild's avid campaign, members of the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists have ratified the union's primetime deal by 62.4% -- a tally strong enough to send a rebuke to SAG, but not so strong that Hollywood's immediate future is clear-cut".

"The ratification was not a surprise, due to the faltering economy and the lingering impact of the 100-day WGA strike. Terms in the AFTRA pact mirror those in the contracts signed by the WGA and DGA, along with the majors' final offer to SAG".

"The Screen Actors Guild was hoping for a defeat of the AFTRA pact, which would have given the guild more leverage as it resumes talks Thursday on its own feature-primetime deal".

"The AFTRA victory signals that there's not enough support among SAG's 120,000 members to vote for a strike authorization, which would require 75% approval. Still to be decided is whether the 37.6% support for SAG in the AFTRA vote shows that the guild has enough clout to persuade the Alliance of Motion Picture & TV Producers to include a sweetener or two to close the deal with SAG".

"SAG and the producers meet again on Thursday and that meeting will provide the key clue of how long talks can be expected to last. TV and film productions want to know as soon as possible how quickly they can resume a normal work schedule".

"The AMPTP issued a statement Tuesday telling SAG it should take AFTRA's deal. "We appreciate today's vote of confidence by actors in the agreement we reached with AFTRA, and hope that it demonstrates to SAG's Hollywood leadership that there is support for the new economic relationships we have built with writers, directors and actors -- and not much support for a strike, whether de facto or real," it said".

"Ballots went out to all 70,000 AFTRA members. AFTRA did not disclose how many thesps voted".

"SAG's effort was enough to lower the approval rate below the usual 90% given to guild contract votes. But producers and AFTRA expected a result around the 60%-70% level".



Here is the link to the full article: http://www.variety.com/VR1117988635.html