Big Stars Join Strikers In The Trenches

Two Sides Returned To Bargaining Table

(CBS)  With their strike five months old, members of the Screen Actors Guild brought out some of their big guns to help the cause on Wednesday. Stars such Kevin Bacon, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, James Gandolfini, Steve Buscemi, Richard Dreyfuss and Tom Hanks showed their support for the strike, reports WCBS-TV in New York.

Their hope is that their name recognition would draw press coverage to their union's cause. At issue is the system by which actors get fees for the amount of times a commercial is aired. The industry wants to scale back the system in favor of flat rates. Wednesday's march was aimed at the ad firm BBD&O and General Motors, which have been involved in making commercials with non-union actors.

"Actors are the biggest bargain in the advertising business. We bring life to words on a printed page," said Hanks.

Meantime, the two sides returned to the bargaining table for the first time in nearly two months Wednesday and agreed to continue talking for at least another day.

"The parties agreed that the talks were conducted in a businesslike manner and agreed to continue the discussions Thursday," the actors and the ad industry said in a joint statement.