Some of Hollywood's biggest stars, including Tom Hanks, George Clooney and Morgan Freeman signed a petition on Monday calling on the Screen Actors Guild to drop plans for the approaching strike authorization vote in January causing a major division between the union members.

The Screen Actors Guild is having its 120,000 members vote in January on whether they will strike. If 75% of voters approve and SAG's board calls a strike, its first target is expected to be the film industry's biggest event of the year, the Oscars on Feb. 22.

The reason they are planning to strike is similar to the writers’ strike last year when members were seeking more compensation for internet broadcasts. The Screen Actors Guild wants to negotiate the seemingly unfair contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). The guild demands union coverage for all Internet-only productions regardless of budget, residual payments for Internet productions replayed in ad-supported platforms online and sustained actor benefits during work halts including those caused by strikes.

"We support our union and we support the issues we're fighting for, but we do not believe in all good conscience that now is the time to be putting people out of work," stated the letter, organized in part by the actress Rhea Perlman and actor Richard Masur, and addressed to Screen Actors Guild President Alan Rosenberg.

Moreover, the letter pointed out that none of the members in the other unions were satisfied with the deals they made in their negotiations. However, "three years from now all the union contracts will be up again at roughly the same time. At that point if we plan and work together with our sister unions we will have incredible leverage," added the letter, which was also signed by Kevin Spacey, Charlize Theron, Helen Hunt, Josh Brolin, Billy Crystal, Steve Carell and Matt Damon along with 100 or so other high-profile celebrities. Hollywood actors have been working without a contract since the previous one expired June 30.

Speaking about Tom Hanks' decision to oppose the strike vote, a friend of the actor, who is a well-known producer, said that Hanks does support fellow working actors who weren't as "blessed" as he was, but he doesn't think this is the time to talk about a strike.

On the opposite front, supporting the strike that would have devastating effects on the industry, which is still recovering from last year's writers’ strike, a smaller group of Hollywood's finest, including Mel Gibson, Holly Hunter, Martin Sheen, Jerry O'Connell and Sandra Oh added their names on the guild's list of supporting members.

A strike at this point in the economy could devastate actors who are already struggling. Where the reasoning is just as valid as the screenwriter’s strike in early 2008, now is just not the economic climate to be demanding more money and potentially putting thousands of working actors on the unemployment rosters. A person should get paid fairly for the work they do, but there are precious few people who would give up a paycheck in exchange for negotiations that may or may not succeed in getting them a few extra dollars later.