Entertainment Industry Labor Relations

As expected, members of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists voted overwhelmingly to approve a new three-year deal negotiated in July with major studios. The unions said 96.7% of the 38,163 members voting approved the deal, with 3.2% voting no and 0.

One of Hollywood's longest and most tense periods of labor unrest ended when negotiators for studios and 135,000 actors reached a tentative agreement on a new film and TV contract.

Negotiations for a new TV and film contract dragged on Monday as actors and studios found a final agreement on money issues elusive. Actors, represented by the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, had been widely expected to have a deal completed with studios by the weekend, when the existing contract expired.

Negotiators for actors and studios returned to the bargaining table Sunday, focusing their negotiations on payments for work appearing on cable TV as they worked on a new three-year deal.

Hollywood's unfolding labor drama was on the verge of ending late Saturday as studios and actors closed in on a new three-year deal that would quash strike threats that have consumed the industry for a year.

With their contract expiring at midnight tonight, negotiators for Hollywood studios and actors guilds continued marathon talks to close in on a new three-year deal that would end the threat of a crippling strike.

Contract talks between film and TV studios and actors guilds accelerated Monday as the top union official for Hollywood's blue-collar work force turned up the heat on both sides, suggesting that the industry has suffered a "dramatic slowdown" in production in the last month because of uncertainty over a new deal.

Contract negotiations between two actors unions and movie and television studios continued and might run through the weekend as both sides try to come to terms before the agreement expires July 1.