Actors ratify 2-year Hollywood movie, TV contract

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By RYAN NAKASHIMA

LOS ANGELES - After a year of nasty infighting, members of the Screen Actors Guild decided by a large margin that the show must go on.

The Guild said Tuesday that 78 percent of voting members decided to ratify a two-year contract covering movies and prime-time TV shows made by the major Hollywood studios.

It was a show of unity after dragged-out negotiations left the Guild further behind than when it started talks in April last year. And it repudiated the strategy of replaced union leaders who had once called for a strike.

"At least for a period, I think what this vote represents is the membership's desire to move on," said David White, who was installed as the Guild's interim national executive director after a boardroom coup by moderates in January.

Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20090610/D98NOK380.html