About a dozen film industry workers have protested outside a meeting of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) in Hollywood asking them not to authorize a strike that would bring the entertainment business to a halt. Thus the protesters joined the actors who have the same plea themselves.

On December 15, a New York City SAG town-hall meeting devolved into a heated back and forth between union President Alan Rosenberg and many New York-based actors who questioned the wisdom of choosing not to work during a national recession.

The demonstrators held up signs saying "Please No Strike Now" - a reference to the union's plans to send out strike authorization ballots on 2 January.

The protesters, who included location scouts, technicians and camera-equipment vendors, claimed work has been scarce due to concerns over an imminent actor walk-out. "Since the last contract expired in June, it's basically killed the feature film business," one told the Associated Press.

A simmering conflict within the guild over the wisdom of authorizing a strike against the backdrop of a national recession boiled over into open rebellion this week. On Monday a legion of A-list actors spoke out against a strike in a letter, and the emotional, crowded town-hall meeting with New York members ended in public acrimony. Monday’s letter, organized in part by the actress Rhea Perlman and the actor Richard Masur, a former president of the guild, was signed by 130 of the bigger names in the business such as George Clooney, Glenn Close, Cameron Diaz, Charlize Theron, Matt Damon, Morgan Freeman and Tom Hanks.