NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Adult film actors are trying to unionize, sparked partly by worries that AIDs is spreading in the pornographic film industry, a news report said.
The Los Angeles Times reported this week that about 35 performers voted unanimously in a private meeting to draw up a list of demands and a bill of rights for workers in the industry, which is believed to generated billions of dollars in sales annually in the United States alone.
More meetings will be held to address issues including health care, pay and scheduling, the newspaper said.
Performers are paid by the scene or day and do not receive pay for overtime work, even when it involves a 20-hour-day, according to the report.
"If you look at how much money is being made by the industry and how much goes down to the talent, I think there needs to be a union," longtime actor Tony Tedeschi told the newspaper.
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"There's nothing like SAG [the Screen Actor's Guild] in the business. They should have the same rules for our workplace that they have in any other workplace."
CNN reported that industry workers called for all adult movie production to cease for two months after actor Darren James tested positive for HIV in early April, adding that a third performer was diagnosed with HIV on Thursday.
Actors are trying to find ways to reduce the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, the newspaper said, including a suggested ban on certain types of sexual behavior in film, precautions for tattooing and body piercing and a 60-day quarantine for foreign and new performers.
Attempts by adult film actors to unionize failed in 1993 and 1998, the report said.
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