SAG Sets Strike Referendum Dates
Screen Actors Guild to mail out strike-authorization ballots Jan. 2, tabulate votes on Jan. 23—a month ahead of Oscars.
By Ben Grossman -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/10/2008 5:48:00 AM
The Screen Actors Guild is indeed going ahead with its plan to at least ask members to authorize a strike.
The guild said Wednesday it will mail out ballots on Friday, January 2, with votes tabulated on Friday, January 23. That is roughly one month before the February 22 Academy Awards are scheduled to take place.
The guild needs a yes vote by 75% of members who vote to have the ability to then call for a work stoppage.
Even SAG executives have in the past questioned whether they will be able to command the votes, and that was before the nation’s economy tanked. But SAG chief Alan Rosenberg in a statement Wednesday said he believes it will pass.
The fact that NBC cut five hours out of its possible scripted prime-time lineup—and whether other networks may follow in some form, thus cutting back the number of network television shows—may also be on the minds of actors in one way or another.
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