SAG Members at a 'Solidarity Rally' on June 9, 2008 (more photos here) | Photo by Tom Andrews/LAist The votes came in and were counted: members of AFTRA--the nation’s second largest performers’ union--overwhelmingly voted to ratify a contract with the AMPTP, who represents movie studios and producers, by a 62.4% margin. “Today’s vote reflects the ability of AFTRA members to recognize a solid contract when they see it," AFTRA National President Roberta Reardon said......

Now that the contract between the largest actors guild and the movie studios has expired, with talks to resume Wednesday, the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers is using a tactic on their website to show the economic pain the actors will supposedly cause if they authorize a strike. Two flash animation boxes on their homepage give out these statistics based on an Milken Institute study (for the writers strike) and Screen Actors Guild's......

Photo by Peggy Archer via Flickr Day 42 into the negotiations between the Screen Actors Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and no result. The contract expires Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. and the next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday. SAG has been saying along that they have no plans to strike but AMPTP has said in a statement that the "industry is now in a de facto strike, with film......

American Idol celebrates music, yet at the same time, it apparently cheats its own musicians who make the show happen. The American Federation of Musicians filed a suit that alleges American Idol Productions Inc. and Tick Tock Productions Inc. its subsidiary, broke a collective bargaining agreement that says the musicians are to be paid royalties for rebroadcasts. "Beginning in 2007, the show's producers subverted the agreement by cutting out the original soundtrack and re-recording new......

Actors Union: "Management is stubborn and intransigent." Studio Reps: "'Frustrated and discouraged' at the guild's attitude." The Screen Actors Guild's contract with studios expires on June 30 and with the way things are going, the union is saying contract talks could extend past that deadline. That doesn't mean a strike, however. SAG has worked past the deadline in the past and plans to this time if talks are progressing, albeit slowly. Both the studios representation,......

SAG's 'Solidarity' Rally on Monday (see more photos here) | Photo by Tom Andrews/LAist Screen Actors Guild members outside of Los Angeles are reportedly fuming over Monday's rally, which was billed as a pro-SAG "solidarity" event, but ended up having anti American Federation of Television and Radio Actor tones. Around 500 actors and supporters of the movement rallied outside SAG's Wilshire Blvd. headquarters chanting "Vote No!" "We were told this would be a pro......

Although the Screen Actors Guild said today was a "solidarity" rally, Variety plainly headlines the event: "SAG rallies against AFTRA, Guild member encourage to vote down deal." Some 500 or so actors and supporters came out to bolster support for duel cardholding SAG/AFTRA members (44,000 people are in both unions) voting down the American Federation of Television and Radio Actors' deal with the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers. SAG says the AFTRA deal......

UPDATE: About 500 people showed for the rally. See photos here.This morning, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) will hold a "solidarity" rally at their Wilshire Blvd. Headquarters, a move the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) is calling decisive and possibly illegal. "It’s disingenuous of SAG to call it a ‘solidarity’ rally when it’s clear that it will be an anti-AFTRA rally,” said AFTRA President Roberta Reardon. The Writers Guild of America held......

Photo by r_neches via Flickr Yesterday, parents his the streets of downtown Los Angeles to protest decisions made by the Los Angeles Unified School District who denied space for charter schools, which are still public schools, but are run differently. The LA Times explains: Charter schools are public campuses that are typically authorized by local school districts but run independently. There are more than 100 authorized by the Los Angeles Unified School District, and......

LAUSD officials trying to stop tomorrow's massive one-hour teacher strike has failed -- a judge struck down the request for a restraining order and the Public Employee Relations Board decided not to file an injunction against the action earlier this week. Union teachers will protest during the first hour of school across the city because of Gov. Schwarzengegger’s plan to cut $3.8 billion from public education, which is expected to affect $350 million of LAUSD's......

Ten states have approached California to ask the state's Supreme Court to stay the ban on same-sex marriages until voters make a decision at the November election. "The attorneys general said they have an interest in the case because they would have to determine if their states would recognize the marriage of gay residents who wed in California," KNBC reported. "They want the court to stay its ruling until after the November election, when voters......

As California prepares for the June 17 start-date for same-sex marriages, barring the Supreme Court does not stay the ban until the November election, New York state Governor Paterson recently "issued a memo telling all state agencies to recognize legally performed, out-of-state same-sex marriages as valid marriages. This memo was, based on the February Appellate Court ruling, said gay marriages 'should be afforded the same recognition as any other legally performed union'" according to Gothamist,......

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In a preemptive move, the Director's Guild of America (DGA) announced yesterday that they'd made a satisfactory deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), giving them a new contract and therefore eliminating the need to strike once the current contract ended. So what does this mean for striking writers and the likelihood of an impending end to their current three-month-old strike? DGA President Michael Apted explains in an LA Times Opinion......

Sen. Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, have spent the past couple days traipsing around the Golden State uncomfortably responding to allegations that their campaign is connected to a lawsuit brought last week by the Nevada teacher's union that would prevent casino workers from caucusing on the job. Many casino workers and hotel employees are members of the powerful Culinary Workers Union Local 226, which endorsed Barack Obama. The Nevada Democratic......

The Communications Workers of America released their initial (small) data sample revealing the molasses-slow pace of U.S. broadband connectivity. And tech-savvy, forward-thinking California clocks slower-than-average speeds. Blaming your new AT&T or Time-Warner or Verizon or Al Gore simply isn't going to fix the Internet, the union warns. Even Canada ranks significantly higher in broadband speeds. Take the speed test, play with the interactive data, or grab the PDF. Hmm. Maybe if we just just......

LAPD and union organizers joined forces to script a protest march during Thursday afternoon rush hour near LAX. Hundreds of people were arrested according to plan. The arrestees, who were registered with LAPD and took a class in preparation for the event, even got t-shirts and a gift package that included a meal (put together by union organizers, not their cellmate). I’ve worried that unions have embarrassed themselves in recent years, becoming top-heavy machines......