|
LOS ANGELES, USA - Hollywood actors gave their tentative approval to a new collective bargaining agreement Sunday, making a step toward resolving their long-running conflict with studio owners.
The board of directors of the Screen Actors Guild voted 53 percent to 46 percent to approve the two-year deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), the union announced.
The agreement delivers movie and television actors 3.5-percent effective annual increases in pay in benefits, better overtime pay, and a share of returns from sales through new media, such as pay-per-view and Internet marketing, according to a guild statement.
The accord, however, still has to be ratified by guild members, and voting in all of the union's 20 branches nationwide was expected to continue through next month.
"I urge members to carefully review both the pros and cons in the referendum materials, and exercise their right to vote," Screen Actors Guild National President Alan Rosenberg said in the statement.
SAG Interim National Executive Director David White said he was pleased with the outcome and urged union members "to focus now on the challenges ahead, particularly on initiating a comprehensive effort to thoughtfully plan for the future."
The Screen Actors Guild represents nearly 120,000 actors who work in motion pictures, television, industrials, commercials, video games, music videos and all new media formats. -AFP
| 
