SAG’s N.Y. board pushes for early contract talks

Signaling a widening rift within the Screen Actors Guild, members of the union’s New York board are demanding that guild leaders begin negotiations by the end of next month.

Citing “unnecessary delays” in contract talks with studios, the New York board adopted a resolution Wednesday demanding that talks start no later than March 31.

The New York division -- one of three in the guild in addition to Hollywood and the regional branches -- accounts for 14 of 71 seats on the national board. At least five of 20 regional branches, including those in Chicago and Houston, have issued similar resolutions.

“I see absolutely no value to the members in delaying these talks any longer,” New York President Sam Freed said.

The resolutions reflect the views of many high-profile members who have been pressuring guild leaders to jump start talks and avoid another costly strike after the 100-day writers walkout, which ended this month. The actors’ contract expires June 30.

“SAG should pursue a course similar to the DGA [Directors Guild of America] where early negotiations short-circuit the need for a strike,” New York-based actor Alec Baldwin said.

But in a recent letter to members, SAG President Alan Rosenberg and Executive Director Doug Allen argued that the guild needed to first narrow the key bargaining issues through a series of membership meetings, and that formal negotiations would begin some time after March 31.

The men also suggested that actors would press for stronger pay terms than what writers and directors received in similar contracts, saying some of the new media pay provisions would “fall more harshly on actors than on writers and directors.”

The move is the latest source of friction between New York members and hard-liners in Hollywood who dominate the national board.

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richard.verrier@latimes.com