Make Your Voice Heard This Week

May 31, 2009

SAG TV/Theatrical Contract

Like your National Board and negotiators, Tom Hanks believes the TV/Theatrical tentative agreement is a smart deal and a pro-active move for SAG members. Please go to www.sag.org to see a short video of Tom explaining why he voted YES. You can also view other newly added videos (including this one on protecting your future in New Media) and sign the TV/Theatrical Statement of Support.

If you haven’t voted yet, please find your ballot, VOTE YES, and mail it right away. The June 9th deadline is approaching fast, and every vote counts. If you believe it is time for SAG to move forward, YOU must act – don’t leave such an important decision to others. Make sure your vote arrives in time to be counted. Ballots should be mailed NO LATER than June 6th.

AFTRA Board Elections

AFTRA members: your board election ballots must be mailed TODAY – the deadline is 9AM Wednesday, June 3rd. UFS urges you to vote for the candidates of the AFTRA Leadership Team. For more information and a complete voting guide, go to www.aftraleadershipteam.org.

MPTF Rally TODAY

Hollywood members: There is a rally Monday June 1st in Woodland Hills from 4:30 – 8:00 PM to support efforts to keep the Motion Picture Television Fund long-term nursing care facility open. The planned closure of the facility has caused deep concern throughout the entertainment community, and this rally is a valuable opportunity to make your voice heard. For more information and full details, please click here.

- UNITE FOR STRENGTH -

Want to support a YES vote on the SAG TV/Th contract? By volunteering just a couple of hours as a phone bank caller, you can help spread the word about the importance of voting YES. Volunteers are needed now through Jun. 5, so please contact SAG right away if you can help. Call Nayla Wren at 323-549-6592 or Jackie Perez at 323-549-6894 or email nwren@sag.org with the subject ‘Volunteer.’

We Need You Thursday Night!

May 19, 2009

Being without a contract for nearly a year has cost SAG members plenty, and anyone who depends on TV & film work knows it. But just today, ballots were mailed for a new TV/Theatrical contract that can turn things around.

The members and staff who have worked so hard to secure this contract will be presenting details of the deal in an open meeting this Thursday May 21st from 7 to 9:30 in Hollywood. (Full details below) 

This meeting will attract lots of attention, both inside and outside our union. While a small group has been vocal in their opposition to this deal, we know that the majority of Hollywood members are excited about approving it and moving ahead.
 
It’s time to show our negotiators - and the public - that Hollywood is ready to move forward.  That we’re ready to get back to work with more jobs, increased pay and residuals, and better benefits for all SAG actors… right now and in the future. (Check out contract details and VOTE YES videos at www.SAG.org)
 
WILL YOU JOIN US ON THURSDAY?

WILL YOU SPREAD THE WORD AND GET OTHERS TO DO THE SAME?
 
We've been working hard to get actors back to work with a strong contract, and now we’d like to ask this in return: IF YOU ATTEND JUST ONE SAG EVENT, PLEASE MAKE IT THIS ONE.
 
You'll need your SAG card (paid through at least 4/30/09) to get in. Please let us know if we’ll see you there.
 
Unite for Strength

Please click here to sign the TV/Theatrical Statement of Support.
TV/THEATRICAL CONTRACTS MEMBER INFORMATION MEETING, MAY 21

What:  SAG member education and informational meeting in Los Angeles to discuss the terms of the proposed TV/Theatrical contracts.

When:  Thursday, May 21, 2009
7 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
 
Where:  Renaissance Hollywood Hotel
Hollywood Ballroom
1755 N. Highland Ave
Hollywood, CA   90028

Parking: No-host self parking at Hollywood & Highland - validation available at the Hollywood & Highland complex: $2 for 4 hours when you are validated in any shop, restaurant or theatre that is part of that mall. Guild is not responsible for illegally parked vehicles.

Unfortunately, no guests allowed. Parents/guardians of younger performers under 18 years-old welcome. 
PLEASE BRING YOUR SAG MEMBERSHIP CARD FOR ADMITTANCE (paid thru April 30, 2009). 

For more information call the National TV/Theatrical Contracts Hotline (323) 549-6665 or email contract2009@sag.org.

Ballots will be mailed May 19. If you’ve paid your Nov. 1, 2008 dues by April 30, 2009 you are eligible to vote; Your ballot must be received by June 9, 2009, 5 p.m. (PDT).

Your Screen Actors Guild National Board of Directors Recommends you
VOTE YES on the TV/Theatrical Agreement.

Your Future in Your Mailbox - VOTE

May 17, 2009

Chances are, the SAG /AFTRA Commercials contract referendum and the AFTRA elections ballot are in your pile of mail right now – and the SAG TV/Theatrical referendum is on its way. How you vote in each will help determine your future as a professional performer.

THE CONTRACTS

UFS strongly urges your YES vote on both contracts. We’ll be writing about the TV/Film contract in a separate email – in the meantime, please visit www.SAG.org to see a brand new video featuring SAG members from across the country explaining why they’re voting YES.

As for the Commercials contract, suffice it to say that even in the current divisive climate at SAG, that contract was approved unanimously by both the SAG and AFTRA Boards. If that isn’t a recommendation, we don’t know what is, so please mark your ballot YES and mail it IMMEDIATELY: it has to arrive by this Thursday May 21st.

THE AFTRA ELECTIONS

Just as important for your future is your vote in the AFTRA elections. And there the answer is also clear: the AFTRA Leadership Team (www.aftraleadershipteam.org).

Like Unite for Strength, the candidates of the AFTRA Leadership Team understand that to fight effectively for our rights and careers we must be strategic and unified. They understand what performers need, and approach our profession as a business. They know that having two unions representing us is a fundamental problem – and that merger will solve it. That’s why the AFTRA Leadership Team has consistently supported merger.

The other group that’s running – Membership First – rejects that approach. As part of SAG’s current and former leadership, they led a costly attack against AFTRA in the run-up to the last negotiations, and now want to bring their divisive tactics to AFTRA itself. No matter how they dress up their approach, it boils down to the same thing: more fighting between our unions.

The AFTRA LEADERSHIP TEAM – for Strength in Unity

If the past year has taught us anything, it’s that when our unions fight, we lose. The AFTRA Leadership Team has already proven itself, navigating turbulent waters with a steady hand. You can trust them to work hard with SAG to bring all performers together and harness the true strength of unity.

Please find your AFTRA ballot, vote for the candidates listed below, and mail it right away - but no later than June 1st - so it arrives by June 3rd.

Unite for Strength

PS: If you’re a New York member, you’ll find an equally strong group of candidates, all committed to unity, at www.AFTRAnow.com.

THE AFTRA LEADERSHIP TEAM CANDIDATES (To view a PDF sample ballot – click here)

UFS Update: Good News on Contracts

April 24, 2009

As you probably already know, last weekend’s National Board meeting brought good news about our contracts: less than three months after installing new negotiators, we have successfully negotiated and approved tentative agreements in SAG’s two biggest contracts. Ratifying these contracts will get SAG members back to work with more jobs, increased pay, and better benefits, now and in the future.

Unite for Strength recommends a YES vote on both new contracts.
At a time of global financial crisis, while other unions are taking significant cuts in wages and benefits, SAG has secured solid gains in virtually all areas. Full contract descriptions will soon be coming to you for approval, but in the meantime here are some of the highlights:

Commercials Contract:
Negotiated jointly with AFTRA and approved unanimously by the SAG and AFTRA National Boards, this contract includes improvements such as:

• Across-the-board raises totaling 5.5% over the life of the contract, with a similar increase in the Radio Contract;
• The first-ever payment structure in commercials for the Internet and other new media platforms;
• A substantial increase in the pension and health insurance contribution rates;
• A mandate for a 2-year pilot study to test a new proposed model of compensation to performers.
• An increase in background numbers from 40 to 45, as well as mileage reimbursement;
• Retroactivity of raises back to April 1, 2009.

TV/Theatrical Contract:
While the road to the TV/Theatrical Contract, which expired 10 months ago, was far more difficult, the tentative agreement we’ve reached includes improvements in virtually every area, including:

• Across-the-board raises of 6.5% over the life of the contract;
• An increase in the pension and health insurance contribution rates, bringing them up to the highest level in the industry;
• Relief for the middle-class actor in the form of an additional bump for TV guest star work, increases in money breaks for more overtime and other pay, and a substantial raise in the ceiling for network primetime residuals;
• Establishment of SAG jurisdiction in New Media, and residuals for film and TV product used on the Internet, with terms to be fully renegotiated in 2 years;
• Unprecedented transparency, by requiring that the studios disclose exactly what income they derive from New Media, to inform our next negotiation;
• Higher wages and more work for background performers, through increased numbers and a new Las Vegas Zone;
• Establishment of residuals for television stunt coordinators, and important wage improvements for dancers and others.

Of special interest to TV series regulars, SAG has also tentatively agreed to a settlement of the force majeure claims the Guild filed during the WGA strike. That settlement will go into effect if the TV/Theatrical contract is ratified, providing 1/3 of the base claim amount for most or all of the claims – up to 21.6 million dollars in total payments to the cast members of affected shows, the largest such force majeure payments ever made.

As you may know, the studios wanted to remove all force majeure protections going forward, but SAG’s negotiators rejected this. A compromise was reached by modifying the existing contract language to clarify how and when force majeure protections will apply to TV series regulars, while the language regarding other television and feature film performers remains unchanged.

The National Board strongly rejected the AMPTP’s demand that this contract expire in 2012, which would have put SAG badly out of synch with other industry unions and weakened our bargaining power. That resolve, coupled with the determined efforts of Interim NED David White and Chief Negotiator John McGuire, led to a contract that expires on June 30, 2011 – critically preserving our ability to renegotiate the contract in two years jointly with AFTRA, and alongside the WGA and DGA.

For the last year and a half since the WGA strike, SAG members have endured unpredictable work patterns and have had significantly less work as our own contract negotiations have languished. This has seriously impacted the ability of most actors to make a living, support their families, and qualify for crucial health and pension benefits. As so many of you have expressed to us, it is time to move forward.

Ratifying these contracts will get SAG members back to work, with more money in our pockets. Both contracts establish important protections in New Media and provide valuable tools to continue addressing that vital area as it grows. By bringing this long and hard-fought negotiation to a conclusion, we’ll put ourselves and the Screen Actors Guild on a course toward a better, stronger future.

Unite for Strength

Your input is always welcome. Please contact us with any questions you may have. In addition to the materials you will be receiving from SAG, please watch for upcoming notices of updates to the Unite for Strength website, including comprehensive contract information and discussion.

UFS Update: Negotiations - Anne-Marie Johnson's message

March 5, 2009

We’re writing with an update and to respond to 1st V.P. Anne-Marie Johnson’s email message to the Hollywood membership in yesterday’s “Hollywood Call Sheet”. In her message, she questions why SAG has not asked members to vote on either the contract or a strike authorization in the two weeks since TV/Theatrical talks ended.

Because the TV/Theatrical talks languished for months before recently resuming, our negotiators must now balance SAG’s two biggest contract negotiations. Less than 36 hours after the National Board rejected the AMPTP’s last, best and final offer, Guild negotiators were in New York starting the Commercial contract talks (scheduled a year ago on the assumption that the TV/Theatrical contract would have long since been concluded). Despite this challenge, our negotiators continue to explore options to move the TV/Theatrical contract toward resolution.

Of course SAG leadership retains the right to send out any kind of referendum to members. But Guild members have never been sent a contract the Board didn’t recommend ratifying, much less one it has rejected; this is no time to stray from that precedent. As for a strike authorization ballot, the National Board voted not to send one at its last meeting. While Ms. Johnson’s call for a strike vote may now be emphatic, she and her allies were themselves in a position to send out such a referendum for many months – preceding the start of talks, during them, and after negotiations were at a standstill – but they repeatedly chose not to.

The AMPTP couldn’t know how this newer SAG Board would react to their offer, but the February 21st meeting made it clear: the majority “moderates” voted unanimously to turn the contract down (see the official statement below). As the first round of Commercial talks concludes tomorrow, our negotiators can refocus on the TV/Theatrical contract, determine what impact the Board’s resolve may have had on our employers, and consider how best to move forward.

Unite for Strength

________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
STATEMENT FROM SAG NATIONAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS
SAG NATIONAL BOARD REJECTS AMPTP LAST, BEST AND FINAL OFFER

Los Angeles, (February 21, 2009) – The Screen Actors Guild National Board of Directors today voted 73% to 27% to “reject the AMPTPs last, best and final offer dated February 19, 2009.

”We entered this round of negotiations sending an unmistakably clear message that we were ready to make a deal. In an effort to put the town back to work, our negotiator agreed to modify the Guild’s bargaining position to bring the Guild in line with the deals made by our sister unions. The AMPTPs last-minute, surprise demand for a new term of agreement extending to 2012 is regressive and damaging and clearly signals the employers’ unwillingness to agree to the deal they established with other entertainment unions.

The demand for a new term of agreement was not part of their final offer of June 30, 2008; it was not part of the federally mediated talks of November 2008, and should not have been inserted into the discussions when we returned to negotiations on February 17, 2009.What management presented as a compromise is, in fact, an attempt to separate Screen Actors Guild from other industry unions.

By attempting to extend our contract expiration one year beyond the other entertainment unions, the AMPTP intends to deleverage our bargaining position from this point forward. Screen Actors Guild’s goal is to successfully complete these negotiations and get the industry back to work as soon as possible. The AMPTP has clearly stated their need and desire for financial certainty and industry peace.

This new proposal does the exact opposite, and will only result in constant negotiating cycles and continued labor unrest.

A Message to Members from the SAG National Board Majority

January 26, 2009

Today we took an important and necessary action to address the leadership crisis at Screen Actors Guild. Representatives from SAG’s National Board majority delivered a “written assent” document to SAG headquarters which authorized the following: Doug Allen is immediately replaced as National Executive Director by former SAG General Counsel David White, who will serve as interim NED; Guild Senior Advisor John T. McGuire is appointed as Chief Negotiator of all SAG contracts; the TV/Theatrical Contract Negotiating Committee is replaced by a Taskforce which will complete negotiations on behalf of the Board of Directors.

In a meeting two weeks ago, a majority of the board sought to make the crucial changes now contained in the written assent, but were derailed by President Alan Rosenberg and a minority of board members through endless parliamentary games and improper behavior. By filibustering for over 28 straight hours, they prevented the Board from ever taking a vote on the majority’s proposal.

This unprecedented level of obstruction has paralyzed the Guild.

Written assent is included in SAG’s constitution to allow a majority of the Board to take action outside the boardroom if necessary. While extraordinary circumstances may require the use of written assent, we do not believe it is a desirable way to conduct Guild business. In this case, the unrelenting obstruction by a minority of board members has left us no alternative.

This action has the support of all but one of the National Board members from SAG’S New York and Regional Branch Divisions, and all in the Hollywood Division except those affiliated with the group Membership First. The signed written assent documents were delivered today to SAG headquarters in Los Angeles.

Upon implementation of the approved motion, Interim National Executive Director David White will assume control of all Guild operations and will coordinate with Chief Negotiator John McGuire to contact the AMPTP to undertake resolution of TV/Theatrical Contract negotiations, which ground to a halt nearly seven months ago. The leaner TV/Theatrical Taskforce will work alongside Mr. McGuire as the "eyes and ears of the board," providing input and support as contract negotiations are concluded.

Beyond the stalled TV/Theatrical negotiations, there is much work to be done and SAG members can rest assured that we have secured an exemplary leader in David White. A Rhodes Scholar, Mr. White has extensive industry experience and was SAG's General Counsel from 2002 to 2006. He knows the Guild and its contracts, and has the respect of our staff and the entertainment community. Our Chief Negotiator, John McGuire, is a 40-year SAG staff veteran who has negotiated over 30 contracts and is held in enormous esteem throughout the industry and the labor movement. We have complete confidence in his ability to deliver the best possible contracts for our members.

These much needed changes will allow SAG to chart a new course.  We will work to secure a TV/Theatrical Contract that can be sent to members with a positive recommendation, and to effectively resolve all our outstanding contracts, including the Commercials Contract.  We will also work to rebuild vital relationships in the entertainment and labor communities, and to reestablish Screen Actors Guild as a respected and powerful institution, protecting and defending performers nationwide.

In its entirety, the written assent accomplishes the following:

• Removes Doug Allen as National Executive Director; Engages David White as interim National Executive Director;

• Names John McGuire as Chief Negotiator for all contracts, including the TV/Theatrical Contract currently in negotiation;

• Replaces the TV/Theatrical Negotiating Committee with a Taskforce, which will represent the Board of Directors;

• Directs that only interim NED David White, John McGuire, or their designee may communicate on behalf of Screen Actors Guild to other organizations, the general public, or the press;

• Retains the law firm of Schwartz, Steinsapir, Dohrmann & Sommers LLP to advise the National Board and represent the Guild in negotiation of the terms of a written contract with David White;

• In response to voting irregularities at the last Board meeting, instructs SAG staff to develop and implement a fraud-proof security system to regulate the use of the voting remotes used by Board members to cast their votes.

*In the interest of compliance with the AFTRA-SAG non-disparagement agreement under the AFL-CIO, Members of SAG’s National Board majority who are also AFTRA officers or board members wish to officially record themselves as abstaining from this statement.

A MESSAGE TO SAG MEMBERS FROM THE NATIONAL BOARD MAJORITY

Unite for Strength and Board Members from Hollywood, New York and the Regional Branches*

As you're undoubtedly aware, SAG is currently beset by a crippling leadership crisis. With the TV/Theatrical contract having expired nearly 7 months ago, negotiations at a standstill, and our negotiators' strategy hinging on a strike authorization vote for which there is clearly insufficient support, we called for a special National Board meeting to consider a new approach. At that meeting, held Jan.12-13, we attempted to postpone the strike authorization vote, replace Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Doug Allen and the negotiating committee, and direct a newly appointed negotiator to restart talks immediately. Despite strong support for these steps from a clear majority of the National Board, President Alan Rosenberg and Mr. Allen's other board supporters stood squarely in the way of our implementing them. For 28 hours straight, they used filibusters and other parliamentary games to run out the clock on the meeting and prevent a vote from ever taking place.

The next day Mr. Allen proposed a new plan to shelve the strike authorization, go back to the table to see if "producers would improve their offer" and then send out that offer for ratification with no board recommendation to members, only pro and con statements. It is noteworthy that when faced with a call for his removal, Mr. Allen suddenly saw fit to suspend the strike authorization that has been the cornerstone of his strategy, and indeed the topic of a 12-page promotional newsletter delivered to Hollywood members just days ago. But unlike the plan we were obstructed from putting into place at the meeting, his is not a serious effort to get a better deal. SAG has never sent members a contract that our National Board didn’t recommend ratifying. We shouldn’t start now.

We firmly believe that SAG needs a change of course and a new captain. Mr. Allen has held fast to a failed strategy for over half a year, even as members have lost nearly $50 million from working under an expired contract. In addition, under Mr. Allen's tenure, numerous other expired agreements have languished without renegotiation, SAG's strategic relations with its sister union AFTRA have been badly undermined, and partisan tensions within the Guild have grown steadily worse.

With new direction, we can turn this around and put Screen Actors Guild back on the right track. We will work to quickly send members a TV/Theatrical contract that carries a positive recommendation from the National Board. We will also focus on successfully negotiating the Commercial agreement and other remaining contracts. We will rebuild vital relationships throughout the entertainment industry, and bring much needed stability back to the Guild. We are now planning concrete steps to achieve this and will keep you updated as events warrant. *In the interest of compliance with the AFTRA-SAG non-disparagement agreement under the AFL-CIO, Members of SAG’s National Board majority who are also AFTRA officers or board members wish to officially record themselves as abstaining from this statement.