A vote by the leaders of the Screen Actors Guild on Sunday has simultaneously ratcheted up negotiation efforts and the possibility of strike.
The guild’s national board of directors voted to formally request a federal mediator for stalled contract talks with studios and, at the same time, agreed to ask members if they want to authorize a strike.
The resolution “authorizes a referendum and accompanying educational information be sent to the members requesting their authorization for the National Board to call a strike” if negotiations fail.
If 75 percent of SAG’s 120,000 members vote in favor of a labor action, it would then be left to the national negotiating committee to call the strike if it deems it necessary.
“We hope mediation will help move this process forward. This action by the board demonstrates our commitment to bargain with the strength of our unified membership behind us,” said Screen Actors Guild Nation al President Alan Rosenberg in a statement.
SAG’s chief negotiator Doug Allen said the union’s goal remains securing a good contract without a strike.
Actors in prime-time television and movies have been working under the terms of a contract that expired June 30, hoping to avoid a repeat of the 100-day writers strike that ended in February. That strike cost the Los Angeles area economy an estimated $2.5 billion.
The studios, represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, said recently that, considering the current economic turmoil, it is “unrealistic for SAG negotiators now to expect even better terms during this grim financial climate.”
Phone calls seeking comment on Sunday from the alliance were not immediately returned.
The actors guild wants union coverage of all shows made for the Internet, and residual payments for actors on made-for-Internet shows. It also demands protections for actors during work stoppages.
The alliance has stuck by a final offer it made June 30, which it said mirrored deals accepted by directors, a smaller actors union called the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and writers following their strike.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More