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Hollywood's top acting union said Tuesday it will give its formal response to a final contract offer tabled by major studios later this week.
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) said in a two-paragraph statement it would respond to the offer from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) at a meeting on Thursday.
Hollywood is currently in limbo after a previous contract between SAG and the AMPTP expired on June 30 with no new deal ready to replace it.
Ill-tempered negotiations between SAG and AMPTP have raised fears of another labor dispute, hard on the heels of Hollywood's 100-day screenwriters strike which plunged the industry into chaos before ending in February.
Echoing the writers strike, actors are seeking an improved share of royalty profits from new media and Internet sales.
Complicating the issue is the fact that the two biggest actors unions, the 120,000-member SAG and 70,000-strong American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), are bitterly divided after the smaller union gave tentative approval to a deal proposed by the AMPTP.
SAG's leaders say the agreement undermines their own negotiating position, and have aggressivly lobbied 44,000 guild members who also belong to AFTRA, urging them to reject the deal when it goes to a vote.
The AFTRA vote results are due to be revealed later Tuesday, and analysts say the ballot could determine how SAG proceeds in negotiations with AMPTP.
If AFTRA's members vote in favor of the deal it will increase pressure on SAG to accept the producers proposed contract, or else face being the only major entertainment industry professional guild not to have reached a deal.
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-23 17:35:20
