The Screen Actors Guild’s leaders have voted on Sunday for the hiring of a federal mediator for stalled contract talks with studios and they also agreed to ask members if they want to authorize a strike. The new inside law “authorizes a referendum and accompanying educational information be sent to the members requesting their authorization for the National Board to call a strike" if the actual negotiations fail.

The votes will take place among 75% of SAG members, which means 120,000 people voting for a labor action. If they do vote in favor, the national negotiation committee will have no option than to call the strike. President of the Screen Actors Guild National, Alan Rosenberg, stated that they “hope mediation will help move this process forward. This action by the board demonstrates our commitment to bargain with the strength of our unified membership behind us."

Yet, Doug Allen, the SAG chief negotiator, said that the main purpose of the union is the one of keeping a good contract without the need of a strike. The actors in prime-time television and films have worked under a contract that has expired June 30. The strike that ended in February and consisted of 100-day writers to cancel their pending jobs cost the Los Angeles area economy nearly $2.5 billion.

The studios were represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers who recently stated that regarding at the current economic turmoil it would be "unrealistic for SAG negotiators now to expect even better terms during this grim financial climate."