The Screen Actors Guild is proving once again why the dysfunctional state of organized labor is not particularly good for the Southern California economy.

SAG can’t get its act together on a unified stance in negotiations on a new contract, threatening a repeat of last year’s disastrous 100-day writers’ strike. Mega-stars such as Tom Hanks and George Clooney sensibly want to settle, but the union’s hand-picked leader is a hard-line guy who wants to dig in and fight.

This being the real Hollywood, not a film, a happy ending probably is not in order.

Which means that because of ego and stupidity, or maybe both, Hollywood could face a crippling strike just as the economy is reeling from the credit crunch and a  weak Christmas season.

The biggest victims of a strike this time will be small businesses who service the industry — many of them in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

It’s not too late to avert disaster. But time is running out on SAG.

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