LOS ANGELES — Hollywood’s smaller actors union ratified a three-year labor contract Tuesday, pressuring the larger Screen Actors Guild to accept terms offered by film and television studios.
A 62.4 percent majority of members of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists voted to approve an agreement that provides a wage increase and union coverage of some work shown on the Internet, the union said in a statement.
The guild had urged AFTRA members to reject the contract, arguing they would get a better deal through joint negotiations. The vote leaves guild leaders, who are seeking a bigger share of DVD revenue and more control over Internet work, little leverage to force concessions from studios.
“They’re going to be in a very tough spot,” Steve Diamond, a professor of entertainment and labor law at Santa Clara University School of Law in Santa Clara, Calif., said before the announcement.
About 40,000 of the guild’s 120,000 members also belong to AFTRA. Ratification of the contract indicates that thousands of guild members are willing to settle for less than the terms guild leaders are seeking, Diamond said.
The guild represents actors in movies and a majority of prime-time TV dramas and comedies. AFTRA, with a membership of about 70,000, represents performers on daytime television and a few scripted prime-time programs.
“Despite an unprecedented disinformation campaign aimed at interfering with our ratification process, a majority of members ultimately focused on what mattered,” AFTRA president Roberta Reardon said in the e-mailed statement.
The AFTRA contract provides a minimum wage increase of at least 3.5 percent on July 1, followed by 3 percent and 3.5 percent raises the two following years. The contract also extends union jurisdiction over some Internet projects, including those with budgets of $15,000 or more per minute.
