SAG board nixes AMPTP offer

LOS ANGELES, July 27 (UPI) -- The Screen Actors Guild national board has voted to endorse its negotiating committee's rejection of what Hollywood producers called their final contract offer.

In a unanimous vote Saturday, the board said it agreed with the negotiators' position that the offer is not acceptable because it would permit non-union performers to work in new-media productions, Daily Variety reported.

The board adopted a resolution that the union said would serve as "guidance" for the SAG negotiating committee.

"It is a core principle of Screen Actors Guild -- That no non-union work shall be authorized to be done under any Screen Actors Guild agreement and; That all work under a Screen Actors Guild contract, regardless of budget level, shall receive fair compensation when reused," the resolution said.

SAG national Executive Director Doug Allen said in a statement the resolution reinforces what he has been telling the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

"For some time, we have been telling the industry how important it is for all new media productions under our contract to be done union and how important residuals for made-for new media programming are when programs are re-run on new media," Allen said.

The AMPTP extended the June 30 offer as its feature film and prime time TV contract with SAG was about to expire.