SAG and AFTRA could finalize joint negotiations on a new film and broadcast TV deal with the AMPTP Friday, an individual close to the talks has confirmed to TheWrap.
But whether an agreement is hatched Friday night, or the talks extend beyond that point, the two labor organizations will most likely be unable to improve upon the 2 percent minimum wage increases that other entertainment unions have agreed to recently.
Neither are SAG and AFTRA likely to secure the significant increases in pension and health funding they had been seeking, the individual said.
Officials for the Screen Actors Guild, the American Federation of TV and Radio Artists and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers would not comment, citing a press blackout during negotiations.
Negotiators for SAG and AFTRA have spent the last six weeks at AMPTP headquarters in Sherman Oaks, trying to jointly hammer out the new master broadcast TV/feature film deal that will replace the one that expires June 30.
The end of the six-week negotiating period officially ends Friday, with SAG re-convening on Monday with the AMPTP to discuss a new basic-cable agreement.
With their respective broadcast TV agreements not expiring for more than another seven months, SAG and AFTRA are under no pressure to announce a deal Friday.
But the trend lines are clear: In July, for example, Teamsters Local 399, which represents Hollywood transportation workers, was only able to secure a 2 percent minimum wage increase from the AMPTP, despite threatening a walkout.
With SAG under the leadership of moderate national president Ken Howard — whose stated goals are to tone down the fiery rhetoric that accompanied the last round of major-contract talks, and to also show that negotiations work smoothly when SAG works closely with AFTRA — visions of a strike seem to sink right off the pier.
We'll know more Friday evening.
