SAG to meet with federal mediator

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- Hollywood's Screen Actors Guild said its national negotiating committee will meet with a federal mediator this week regarding a new contract.

Representatives for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers met with the mediator last week.

SAG and AMPTP negotiating committees met for 44 days of formal negotiations and haven't yet reached a successor agreement to the TV/theatrical pact that expired June 30. AMPTP has repeatedly said a package it presented that day was its final offer and the two parties have not met since then, aside from one sidebar session during the summer.

SAG last month asked that a federal mediator be used to help jump-start contract talks. AMPTP met with the mediator last Thursday.

SAG said in a statement on its Web site that its negotiating committee is scheduled to meet with the mediator assigned by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service Wednesday.