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21,000 film, television and radio workers across Canada said early Thursday a major labour disruption could be a few days away.

The national executive director of the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists — or ACTRA — says talks broke down between the union and producers late Wednesday.

In a statement Thursday, Stephen Waddell says producers tabled an "outrageous" pay offer and demanded free internet rights.

He says ACTRA offered flexibility in the use of performances on the internet, major wage concessions for low-budget independent Canadian producers and new flexible rules for reality television.

ACTRA is in a legal strike position in most of Canada starting in January 2007.

Canadian stars such as Sarah Polley, Maria Del Mar and Gordon Pinsent turned out to support the ACTRA's negotiating team late Wednesday and early Thursday

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The situation heated up Wednesday night and early Thursday morning after ACTRA brought more than two dozen high-profile Canadian thesps into the talks, including Wendy Crewson, Gordon Pinsent, Charmion King and Sarah Polley, and they clashed with U.S. studio reps there to support their Canadian counterparts. Execs from ABC/Touchstone, CBS TV, Fox Broadcasting, NBC Universal, Paramount Pictures, Sony, Disney and Warner Bros. TV were present.

John Barrack, chief negotiator for Canadian producers, said the thesps' presence was disruptive. "It was noisy, and they really insulted the American producers, one of whom left the room," he said, declining to name the person. "They said things like, You people are the problem, " Barrack added.

"I fail to understand ACTRA's logic and feel that this is a lost opportunity by driving us out of negotiations," said Dean Ferris, Fox Broadcasting exec VP, labor relations. "We're up here in an effort to create employment, and we refuse to fight ACTRA on these proposals. If they don't want us to bring work to Canada, we'll go home. No fight, no problem," he declared.

"We've been on strike already," said Waddell. "Effectively, the U.S. producers have struck this town for the past year," he added, noting that 2006 has been one of the worst years on record for Toronto-area production.

Waddell pointed out that Canadian actors have voted 97% in favor of striking if an agreement is not reached. "Our members have a resiliency and a determination. They can live through very dry periods; they know how to adapt," he said.

Producers say they're offering wage increases of 1% the first year, 2% the second and 1% the third, adding that other guilds have recently accepted less generous terms. "We're puzzled with the fact that ACTRA thinks they operate outside of this world by demanding a wage package that is over three times that of what was agreed to by other unions and guilds," said Barrack.

"We don't compare ourselves to writers or directors," said Waddell. "We compare ourselves to comparable unions like the Screen Actors Guild, which received a 10% increase last year."

ACTRA is asking for 5%, 5% and 5%.

On the Internet end, producers are asking that there be no fees for promotional material. ACTRA is balking at its definition of the term. "They define promotional as covering anything in which producers don't receive any money," said Waddell. "Somebody's making money off of this. We're not going to give away the future for free."

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