Screen Extras OK 2-Tier Pay Pact by 2 to 1

Screen Extras Guild members have ratified by a margin of nearly 2 to 1 a new contract calling for a two-tier wage system in which “senior” members will earn $50 a day more than beginners, a spokesman for the union said Friday.

Guild members returned to work after a tentative settlement Feb. 11, ending a weeklong walkout, the first strike in the union’s 41-year history.

Guild spokesman Jerry Benson said the membership voted 1,572 to 830 for approval.

“Senior” members, he said, are those who were in the guild before the settlement date. Under the contract, they will be paid $90 a day, compared to $40 a day for beginners. There are approximately 6,000 members, about 4,000 of whom are in Southern California.

Overtime Pay

The new contract also provides for workers to begin receiving time-and-a-half pay after eight hours and double time after 12 hours. Formerly, double time began after 10 hours.

Under the old contract, screen extras were paid $91 a day. Producers sought to cut that to $68 in an effort to compete with independent companies who had not signed contracts with the guild.

Contract signatories--and those against whom the strike was called--are Columbia, Disney, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Universal, Warner Bros. and one independent, Aaron Spelling Productions.