Hollywood Actors Agree To Mediation, But Strike May Be Unavoidable

(LOS ANGELES) – Unionised Hollywood actors on the verge of a strike have agreed to allow federal mediators to intervene at the last minute, but they doubt a solution can be achieved by a late Wednesday discussion deadline.

“We are committed to the negotiating process and will explore and exhaust every possible opportunity to reach an agreement,” the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Radio and Television Artists said in a statement Tuesday night.

Suppose no agreement is made with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. In that case, the actors may join the already-striking Writers Guild of America, bringing the already-slowing production process to a standstill.

The parties agreed to extend the contract before its original expiration date of June 30, resetting it to Wednesday at 11:59 p.m.

Unionized Hollywood actors on the verge of a strike have agreed to allow federal mediators to intervene at the last minute.

When SAG-AFTRA issued a statement Tuesday night, the growing pessimism surrounding the talks appeared to shift to open hatred.

It was in response to a Variety report that a group of Hollywood CEOs was behind the request for mediation, which the union said was leaked before its negotiators were notified of it.

A spokeswoman for the AMPTP declined to comment. It’s still being determined whether federal mediators have consented to participate, but such an intervention would take longer than the contract’s remaining hours.

“The AMPTP has abused our trust and harmed our respect for them in this process,” SAG-AFTRA said. “We will not be manipulated by this cynical ploy to engineer an extension when the companies have had enough time to make a fair deal.”

The talks debate residual compensation and the prospect of unregulated artificial intelligence use.

SOURCE – (AP)