LOS ANGELES, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- A joint board of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists has approved a new contract with movie and TV producers.
The board voted Saturday to recommend SAG and AFTRA members ratify the deal when they vote in February.
SAG and AFTRA agreed Jan. 20 to a contract with the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers that provides a 9 percent pay raise for actors over three years and the largest ever employer contribution to the unions' health and pension plans.
SAG President Melissa Gilbert acknowledged the union did not achieve one of its top priorities, a change in the formula for distributing revenue from home video.
"But it would be neither wise nor responsible to pursue our only alternative -- shutting the town down -- and risk losing the historic gains we achieved," she said.
If actors had persisted in demanding a larger share of home video revenue, producers likely would have ramped up production in advance of the June 30 expiration of the current contract, probably leading to a de facto strike.
