SAG's endgame is still a mystery

October 23, 2008 Juan Carlos Gonzalez, the federal mediator who is the same neutral party brought in by the AMPTP last year before the writers strike, may soon play a similar role in the stand-off between the studios and SAG. The resolution the guild's executive board passed Sunday gives the go-ahead for its bargaining panel to go to the membership for strike authorization in the event that mediation fails. SAG president Alan Rosenberg -- who strongly opposed calling in a mediator when the possibility was raised by SAG board members in August, then argued against it over the weekend -- has gone silent, other than releasing a statement Sunday that said the union hopes mediation will "move the process forward."

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