LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Screen Actors Guild and major studios returned to the bargaining table on Wednesday from a three-week recess in contract talks after Hollywood's smaller performers union came to terms with producers on a new labor deal.
The tentative accord between studios and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, or AFTRA, raised hopes yet again that labor peace in the world's entertainment capital might yet prevail after a 100-day screenwriters strike that ended in February.
AFTRA reached compromises on two issues viewed as major stumbling blocks by both unions -- obtaining contract coverage for original made-for-Internet shows and actors' consent for the online display of TV clips in which they appear.
But it remained unclear whether AFTRA's deal might form the basis of a settlement with the larger, more militant Screen Actors Guild, or whether SAG would see its bargaining position undercut by its sister union.
The two unions had negotiated their main TV contracts together for nearly three decades. But AFTRA decided to go it alone earlier this year after long-simmering tensions with SAG reached a boiling point.
The AFTRA deal, governing actors' employment on about a dozen prime-time TV shows, is still subject to approval by the union's governing board and a ratification vote by its 70,000 members. But there was little doubt it would win endorsement.
The spotlight turns now to talks with SAG, which represents 120,000 actors and whose contract covers the lion's share of prime-time television and the film industry as a whole. About 40,000 of SAG's members also belong to AFTRA.
STRIKE JITTERS
