娱乐英语新闻:Hollywood actors union to hold town hall meetings on new contract

LOS ANGELES, May 8 (Xinhua) -- Hollywood's largest actors union announced Friday it is holding two town hall meetings in coming weeks over its feature-primetime contract with major studios and television networks.

    The 12,000-member Screen Actor Guild (SAG) reached a tentative agreement with a group of entertainment executives last month, nearly 11 months after its previous feature-primetime contract expired.

    The union is planning to hold two members-only meetings, one in Hollywood on May 21 and another in New York on June 1, to allow its members to discuss the new agreement, which will be later ratified through a referendum-style vote.

    SAG had originally planned to send out the ratification ballots last week, but the union needed more time to prepare the pro and con statements going out with the ballot to its 120,000 members, mostly in Los Angeles and New York.

    Ballots will go out May 19 with a June 9 return date, union officials said.