Results tagged “strike”

Although no strike is reportedly on the immediate horizon, the Service Employees International Union "announced that 74 percent of its membership approved [a] strike authorization in votes counted Saturday," according to abc7.com, and "union leaders will meet in the coming week to decide what steps to take."

I was driving back from the Costco in Burbank one afternoon when my boyfriend turned to me and asked "Why in God's name is there a custom hat store on Magnolia? Who wears hats anymore?" I thought a second, laughed, and said -- "Hollywood!" Movie-makers will always need milliners and other manufacturers of specialty props -- right??

     

Hollywood can have problems giving credit where credit is due. Ideas get stolen, supporting actors go unnoticed, and many times the writers who make up the foundation of the entertainment industry never get the limelight in the way that they should. That is, until they decide to go on strike, or a blonde bombshell declares them unfit for accolades. So it should be a source of honor and pride for these men and women when, once a year, they are truly recognized and heralded for their achievements. This is the Writers Guild of America Awards.

After negotiations hit a stalemate back in November, the Screen Actors Guild and representatives from Hollywood studios announced yesterday that "they will meet for two days next week," according to abc7.com. (SAG's site says they were to meet in Sherman Oaks last week, and has not been updated to reflect yesterday's announcement.) In the time since they last met to hash out a new deal, things have been rocky for SAG and its leadership. Murmurs about impending strikes and the lack of resolution prompted teamsters and members of the stagehands' union to picket outside SAG headquarters on Wilshire Blvd. this week. SAG also fired their top man, Doug Allen, when he was unable to make anything happen, either. Allen favored a strike, but many believe that is not going to happen under new leadership.

Paranoia was rife in Los Angeles County during the Second World War. Military Aircraft were constantly on the defense from the German's as well as the Japanese after the Pearl Harbor assaults, so rumor that another foreign invasion was on the horizon caused mass hysteria.

Talk about drama. A marathon 30-hour meeting between Screen Actors Guild national board members landed the outcome of pretty much nothing. Doug Allen, SAG's chief negotiator and national executive director, was almost fired, but filibusters and a sleepy board did not have the votes to fire him or authorize a strike or do much of anything else. The best take comes from the Hollywood Reporter: "The emergency national board meeting began before 9 a.m. Monday and pushed on through the night into Tuesday afternoon, when the organizers had scheduled a hard-stop time of 1 p.m. Within an hour of the official end of the proceedings, exhausted-looking board members could be seen stumbling out to their cars."

The TV Junkie says "welcome back" to you all, to a new year and a new "Winter Season" of TV. Premieres we are looking forward to this month are "Nip/Tuck" (FX 1/6), "Damages" (FX 1/7), "24" (Fox 1/11), "Battlestar Galactica" (SciFi 1/16), "Big Love" (HBO 1/18), and "Lost" (ABC 1/21).

Careful Los Angeles, New York is watching. "A closely watched count of film permits for outdoor shoots in the Los Angeles area shows that feature film shooting days totaled just 1,181 in the third quarter of 2008, down 38 percent from the year before, according to FilmLA, the nonprofit organization that coordinates permits for location shooting in the area," says the New York Times.

The Screen Actors Guild announced last night that they will put off having their members vote on a possible strike. Rather than send the ballots out on January 2nd, they have opted to wait until January 14th to mail them, cbs2.com is reporting. Many people in and out of the entertainment industry believe this is the wrong time for SAG to strike because of the obvious and immediate impact it will have on the many people who are employed in connection to television and film production. Further, the New York branch of SAG recently voiced their objection to the strike--a move SAG has been talking openly about for some time now, and particularly after negotiations with Hollywood studios failed.

It's official. After not coming to a contract agreement with producers and studios for nearly six months, mainly over new media residuals, the Screen Actors Guild is set to have its membership vote on authorizing a strike.

The Screen Actor Guild's talks with the AMPTP, who represents movie studios, failed Friday night, even with a Federal Mediator trying to help. That led them to seek a strike authorization vote. Entertainment attorney Jonathan Handel over at Huffington Posts finds the move incredulous: "Still, it's almost beyond belief that SAG might strike -- over issues that amount to mere pennies for the next several years at least -- and would do so in the middle of the worst economy since the invention of talking pictures, literally. Unfortunately, Hollywood's a place where dreams aren't the only thing that comes true; sometimes nightmares do as well. Here's hoping that there's still time for a sensible approach to prevail."

Following an unsuccessful period of meetings between the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) at the request of federal mediator Juan Carlos Gonzalez, according to the AMPTP, "the parties were unable to reach an agreement and the mediator has adjourned the mediation process."

As the Screen Actors Guild and the movie studios, represented by AMPTP, meet for the first time in four months today, the Writers Guild of America announced that writers are not getting paid for new media residuals, which was the core issue they held a 100-day strike over. That can't help today's meeting, which will include a federal mediator, because new media is one of the big reasons that SAG and AMPTP have not come to a deal yet.

Exactly one year from the first day of the Writers Guild strike, the Screen Actors Guild will meet with a federal mediator next Wednesday, November 5, to help the union and studios come to an agreement. If either side doesn't budge, then Los Angeles could be looking at another large strike.

Strike.TV announced the launch of its online HD video network at Digital Hollywood this week. The network features original short-form content by the creative talent behind television shows like “The Office,” “Friends” and “Ugly Betty.” Among the shows are “Global Warming,” a romantic comedy about an overworked corporate drone in New York (SNL’s Kristen Wiig) and a caring database support technician in Bangalore (the Daily Show’s Aasif Mandvi). For fans of Mindy Kaling (Kelly Kapoor on “The Office”), there is “House Poor,” about her comedic, underhanded efforts to furnish her house in LA.

Early yesterday afternoon, members of SEIU Local 1877 who work at LAX in a variety of capacities in jobs as janitors, skycaps, and wheelchair attendants, went on strike. They have been seeking "higher wages and affordable health care," explaining that they wish to have more pay and security in order to ensure the quality of their lives and their work. The workers opted to strike only when talks between their union and the 9 contractors who broker their employment with LAX hit a stalemate. Although the walk-out was not expected to derail operations at the city's very busy airport, it did affect travel times for customers of United, Southwest, and American.

Last week they authorized it, today at 1:30 p.m. they take action. The SEIU Local 1877, who is made up of workers such as janitors and wheelchair attendants, are striking to protest after a failed bargaining session about improved wages, benefits and training. According to LAX officials, they are not expecting impacts as these workers fall under the purview of various airline companies. They said to maybe add an extra 10 minutes to your arrival time, which they recommend to be two hours for domestic and three for international.

There's no guarantee that employees in the Service Employees International Union Local 1871 will strike, but they've overwhelmingly authorized the action if leaders choose to do so. What's going on? In short, employees like janitors, cabin cleaners, and cargo crew who are hired by subcontractors and the airlines (note, not the airport itself), say they have inadequate training, lack of proper equipment, lack of health care and low pay, according to the Associated Press.

The votes came in and were counted: members of AFTRA--the nation’s second largest performers’ union--overwhelmingly voted to ratify a contract with the AMPTP, who represents movie studios and producers, by a 62.4% margin.

The Screen Actors Guild announced today that they will "present its response" to the "last best final" contract offer by movie studios and producers, who hope it will be accepted. With that, Nikki Finke opines: "... the Big Media companies are prepared to play hardball. I forsee a repeat of what happened during the lowest ebb of the writers strike: the AMPTP walks away from the talks and issues an ultimatum to SAG to take certain demands off the table. Whether this speeds up or slows down an eventual contract settlement remains to be seen."

SAG and AMPTP met yesterday afternoon to discuss the new contract offered by the movie studios. Hours before the contract expired on Tuesday at 12:01 a.m., AMPTP offered the actors their "final offer," which SAG had many questions about yesterday. SAG is now going back to analyze and review AMPTP's proposal. But all of this is a waiting game until July 8 when the other and smaller actors union, AFTRA, announces if their disputed bad deal with the studios was ratified or not. "Then," Nikki Finke correctly notes, "Hollywood travels into uncharted territory."

Now that the contract between the largest actors guild and the movie studios has expired, with talks to resume Wednesday, the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers is using a tactic on their website to show the economic pain the actors will supposedly cause if they authorize a strike. Two flash animation boxes on their homepage give out these statistics based on an Milken Institute study (for the writers strike) and Screen Actors Guild's reported earnings.

That was what the AMPTP reportedly said when negotiations first began with the SAG. But that's just one option that SAG says will not happen. The Hollywood reporter breaks down how it could play out if no deal is reached by tonight's deadline: "They could negotiate a contract extension, which could be by day, week or month, and keep talking; the studios could lock out the actors; or SAG could seek a strike-authorization vote from its membership, which will be at least a two-week process as the negotiating committee must vote on whether to bring a strike."

Today, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers took out an ad (to the left) in both Variety and Hollywood Reporter stating their concerns over another strike.

No, it is unlikely the drama of that the negotiations between the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP) will bleed out on the streets. In a statement late yesterday morning, SAG president, Alan Rosenberg, had this to say: "We have taken no steps to initiate a strike authorization vote by the members of Screen Actors Guild. Any talk about a strike or a management lockout at this point is simply a distraction. The Screen Actors Guild national negotiating committee is coming to the bargaining table every day in good faith to negotiate a fair contract for actors."

Movie studios are preparing for the worst, an actors strike, which could begin in July if contract talks go sour, according to the LA Times:

Studio Reps: "'Frustrated and discouraged' at the guild's attitude."

Screen Actors Guild members outside of Los Angeles are reportedly fuming over Monday's rally, which was billed as a pro-SAG "solidarity" event, but ended up having anti American Federation of Television and Radio Actor tones. Around 500 actors and supporters of the movement rallied outside SAG's Wilshire Blvd. headquarters chanting "Vote No!"

       

Although the Screen Actors Guild said today was a "solidarity" rally, Variety plainly headlines the event: "SAG rallies against AFTRA, Guild member encourage to vote down deal."