Who is Unite for Strength?

Unite for Strength is a diverse group of dedicated SAG members who understand that to fight effectively for our careers, we must be strategic and unified. New to SAG board service, we bring none of the factionalism that has damaged the Guild’s effectiveness . We offer instead our commitment to service and our extensive personal experience of what it takes to make a living in this tough business. We know that putting SAG's membership first means getting results for actors; talking tough is meaningless if it isn't backed up with strategy and unity.

 Here's what we pledge to do:

• End the fruitless war against AFTRA and create a united front of actors to fight for more working opportunities and better pay. The less unified we are in dealing with our employers, the weaker our position. That's obvious to everyone but Membership First. Five years ago 58% of SAG members voted in favor of a plan to consolidate the two unions, just 2% short of the necessary 60%. Soon after the vote, a professional, independent poll of the members found that 79% wanted to find a way to merge. But Membership First board members controlling SAG since then have done the opposite: they’ve driven the unions farther apart, turning them into virtual enemies. No union has ever won a better deal for workers by sowing division within their own ranks. We will turn that around so that the next time we negotiate this contract, everyone who works in front of a camera or microphone for our employers is on the same team.

• Ensure that the upcoming commercials contract negotiations don’t go the way the TV/Theatrical negotiations have. The commercials contract expires in October and if this SAG leadership stays in place, it is all but certain that there will once again be stalling, infighting and eventually competing negotiations with AFTRA. And with issues such as new media residuals, the explosion of non-union work both out-of-country and right here at home, and product placement alternatives on theatrical programming, this negotiation is critical.

• Finally address the needs of Hollywood background performers, who are uniquely hurt by many new trends. Runaway production, lack of jurisdiction in other parts of the country, the corruption and lack of enforcement of the outmoded 3-voucher system, and the WGA strike and current de-facto lockout have all meant that many veteran performers won’t work enough days to qualify for health insurance.

• Reestablish a relationship between SAG and our agents to restore the protections we need. Membership First defeated the agreement renegotiated 5 years ago, leaving us vulnerable to unscrupulous agents and onerous General Service Agreements. Now our only recourse is to hire our own attorneys. Only new leadership will get this back on track.

• End mismanagement and bring fiscal responsibility back to SAG. SAG’s coffers were badly depleted by the 2000 Commercials strike, but Membership First successfully fought a needed dues raise, leading to cut-backs in vital services like residuals processing and the monitoring of sets. They proceeded to spend with abandon - on pay-outs to get rid of staff they didn’t like, on the fight to defeat AFTRA’s contract, on weeks and months of stalled negotiations, slick publications, new positions, etc. It’s no surprise that we’re looking at a $6.5 million deficit – and that’s before taking into account lost earnings from the WGA strike and the current slowdown. We’ll get SAG’s fiscal house back in order by streamlining and updating backward and expensive operations like the paper processing of residuals, and stopping the loss of millions from lack of contract enforcement thanks to antiquated reporting methods (both were promised by producers in past negotiations).
  
  

Adam Arkin •  Michelle Allsopp •  Edoardo Ballerini •  Bob Bergen •  Amy Brenneman
L. Scott Caldwell  • Gabrielle Carteris   William Charlton •  Assaf Cohen •  Ashley Crow •  Tim DeKay Fred Fein  •  Googy Gress •  Dulé Hill •  Ken Howard  • Clyde Kusatsu •  Matt Letscher
John Carroll Lynch  •  Anthony Molinari •  Pamela Reed •  Doug Savant •  Bill Smitrovich
Richard Speight, Jr. •  Mandy Steckelberg •  Keith Szarabajka  • Steve Tom •  Stacey Travis
Ned Vaughn •  Tom Verica  •  Marcia Wallace •  Kate Walsh