Variety reported today that the groups are facing pressure to start contract talks as soon as possible, SAG has announced it won’t start formal negotiations with the AMPTP until April at the earliest.In a message sent to members, SAG Web Site, Thursday, SAG president Alan Rosenberg and national exec director Doug Allen said SAG plans to stress the issues of new media, compensation for middle-class actors and forced endorsement on product integration.

In the message, Rosenberg and Allen repeated their previous insistence that the guild needs to complete its process of holding “wages and working conditions” meetings to work out the details of its proposal and said that process would conclude March 31. They also retiterated that they need to complete discussions with AFTRA over the SAG-AFTRA joint bargaining arrangement before setting a date for talks.