SAG official defends call for strike

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Doug Allen, national executive director of the Screen Actors Guild, says a call for a strike authorization from members of the U.S. union is justifiable.

Allen said despite the recession, top SAG officials' demand for a member vote on the strike proposal was based on a need to keep top networks and studios from taking advantage of the actors, Daily Variety reported Saturday.

"There is no good time to consider a strike," Allen said Friday. "Strikes are called only when management's bargaining positions are intolerable and then only by a vote of the elected actors on the national board, if authorized by a membership referendum. But tough economic times are when it is most necessary to be unified to resist the studios and networks effort to obliterate contract provisions in our future work."

Allen's message to SAG members nationwide comes as the union official is enduring calls for him to be removed as lead negotiator in the contract talks.

But Allen did not mention that opposition in his message, focusing instead on seeking support during the Jan. 12-13 national board meeting that will precede the dispersion of strike authorization ballots, Variety said.