Monday, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) announced they were postponing the vote concerning a strike authorization until January 14 at the earliest, by virtue of differences of opinions among members.

Initially, the SAG had considered sending strike authorization ballots to over 100, 000 union members on January 2, which could have placed the Academy Awards big night under the threat of being boycotted by actors.

SAG’s national executive director Doug Allen stated that members were not seeing eye to eye on whether to cast the vote or not, adding that 2, 524 of them were all for the strike authorization ballot, while 1, 373 opposed the measure, including actors Pierce Brosnan and Cameron Diaz.

The decision to seek a strike authorization was prompted by failed negotiations with major Hollywood studios, the SAG and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) having been in talks for a new contract ever since before the previous one expired back on June 30.

Nevertheless, on December 12, a New York faction of the union requested a postponement with regards to the vote, claiming that a strike during times of economic crisis affecting the industry was a reckless course of action.

The actors’ guild is trying to obtain payment covered by the union for all web productions irrespectively of their budget and continued benefits during work haltings, including those given rise to by other unions’ strikes.

On the other hand, the AMPTP revealed that new payment regulations had been worked out with and accepted by another actors’ union, directors and writers, adding that a better deal given the plummeting economy was impossible to achieve.