Actors Who Do Voices for TV Cartoons Strike

For the first time in its history, the Screen Actors Guild on Monday went on strike against the principal producers of animated television programs.

Walt Disney Productions, Hanna-Barbera Productions Inc., Filmation, DIC and Marvel are the targets of the strike, according to Mark Locher, SAG’s public relations director. Locher emphasized that animated motion pictures will not be affected by the strike.

Locher said that about 300 SAG members who are the voices of television cartoon characters such as the Smurfs launched their strike after the breakdown of negotiations last Thursday. He said the principal issues dividing the two sides are the union’s demand for more money for actors who do more than one voice per show and a demand that the normal workday be cut from eight hours to four hours. He said that in most instances the voice work on the cartoon shows is completed in less than four hours.

Leonard Chassman, SAG’s executive secretary in Hollywood, asserted that certain sections of the old contract are archaic, especially a 20-year-old provision that requires SAG actors to perform as many as three cartoon voices per show for the price of one.

But a spokesman for management said the union had unreasonable expectations and was attempting to get a better deal for a small group of members than the rest of their colleagues garnered in last year’s negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.