Source: SAG-AMPTP Talks Tentatively Set Feb. 17-18

After national president Alan Rosenberg and his allies were defeated in court today, the self-described moderate faction of the Screen Actors Guild has tentatively agreed to resume talks with movie and television producers Feb. 17-18, an industry source has told Strike Watch.

Judge James Chalfant of California Superior Court ruled that the moderates had acted legally when they fired national executive director Doug Allen and replaced the negotiating committee via written assent Jan. 26. Still, the special national board meeting called for Sunday will proceed, and the moderates will introduce a formal proposal that reaffirms the actions in the written assent--replacing Allen with interim NED David White and chiefnegotiator John T. McGuire and replacing the committee with a negotiating task force, a board source said.

The moderates, who hold a small majority on the national board, fired Allen and replaced the negotiating committee because of what they felt were intransigent positions in negotiating with producers. The TV-film contract expired July 1 but actors continue to work under its terms. Negotiations had been stalled for more than seven months over issues that include new media and DVDs.

--Andrew Salomon

Comments

[VoiceGuy]

Has your earlier source for the court documents in this case revealed whether the papers used today had changed materially from the ones submitted Tuesday?

Given that the notice problems relating to Tuesday's hearing were sufficient grounds for relief to be denied, but there was some commentary about the adequacy of the papers, I'm curious whether the plaintiffs also tried to clean up their papers at all for today.

VG