AMPTP to SAG: Raises Will Be Retroactive

A group of Hollywood TV and film producers said if the Screen Actors Guild accepts its proposed contract, its wage increases would be retroactive.

SAG is expected to respond to the final offer the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers made June 30 at a meeting Thursday.

The previous SAG-AMPTP contract expired July 1.

The producers remain committed to making a deal with SAG as soon as possible, which is why the AMPTP’s final offer would make the wage and salary increases retroactive to July 1, 2008, if the agreement is ratified by SAG’s membership no later than Aug. 15, 2008, the AMPTP said in a statement Wednesday. Under the final offer, if the new agreement is not ratified by Aug. 15, 2008, all changes in terms and conditions would become effective in the first payroll period after ratification. The producers have included this traditional incentive in the final offer in order to get everyone back to work and end the de facto strike.

The AMPTP said its final offer includes more than $250 million in additional compensation over the course of the three-year contract, as well as groundbreaking new media terms.