Hopes that major studio movie shoots will return to Canada soon were dealt a blow this week when the embattled Screen Actors Guild issued a Q&A memo to its members to bolster its case for a union-wide strike authorization vote.

‘We need to show management that we are willing to fight to preserve our ability to earn a living as union performers; otherwise, management will take that away from us,’ SAG’s leadership said in a pre-Thanksgiving seven-page memo.

‘Nearly half of our earnings as union performers come from residuals, but management wants us to allow them to make programs for the Internet and other new media nonunion (productions) and with no residuals,’ the union added just days after its latest round of mediated bargaining with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, representing the major studios, broke off.

SAG officials insisted the strike authorization vote, scheduled for December, does not mean the U.S. actors union will take its members out on strike.

Should a strike occur, however, it would likely kick off in mid-January.

The AMPTP in its own statement said SAG’s Q&A failed to explain why actors deserved a better agreement than others in the film industry, and why the union would strike in tough times.