The major players in Hollywood's latest labor dispute are deeply divided internally. Competing factions within the unions want to pursue different agendas. Likewise, the media conglomerates on the other side of the table are having trouble agreeing on their platform because each company will be affected differently by the same labor agreements. This discord has slowed contract talks as the unions near their strike deadline.
See "Hollywood 'Balkanization' Makes Contract Talks Ever More Complex", James Bates, Claudia Eller, Los Angeles Times, April 30, 2001