SAG-AFTRA Extends Commercials Contract Talks Until Midnight Tuesday

SAG-AFTRA, whose commercials contract was set to expire today, has extended its negotiations with advertisers and ad agencies until Tuesday night. “The parties will continue to negotiate, remaining under a media blackout,” the union and the ad industry’s Joint Policy Committee said today in a joint statement.”

In the meantime, all terms and conditions of the guild’s 2016 Commercials Contracts – including all waivers and provisions that might otherwise sunset – have been extended until Tuesday night, one minute before midnight, ET.

Negotiations for a new pact began on Feb. 20, but unlike the ongoing talks between the WGA and the Association of Talent Agents – which have been played out in public for months as the April 6 deadline for their negotiations approaches — the SAG-AFTRA negotiations have been conducted completely in secret.

SAG and AFTRA, prior to their merger in 2012, last struck the ad industry in 2000; it lasted six months. Before that, they struck the industry for 26 days in 1988, for 51 days in 1978-79 and for 80 days in 1952-53.