With the effects of the writer's strike still lingering through the industry, the Actor's Guild's negotiations are being monitored closely. Today, another step in the process...

"SAG's national executive committee has approved a measure granting its negotiators the authority to seek an extension of the contract. Although not a requirement, an extension seems to be a near certainty, because no substantive bargaining is likely to take place until the results of AFTRA's contract ratification vote are known July 8.

SAG has waged a public battle with AFTRA over the tentative contract, which was reached with the studios and networks' negotiating arm, the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers, on May 28.

As SAG's national executive director and chief negotiator Doug Allen wrote to members June 23, a rejection of the AFTRA deal "gives us more leverage, not less, at the negotiating table." Given that, it's highly unlikely SAG will make a final bargaining push until it knows how much leverage it has.

But even if SAG's smaller sister union does reject its pact, veteran industry lawyers say there's no guarantee that AFTRA will return to the table with SAG. Instead, voting down the deal will most likely add tension, rather than create solidarity, they say."

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