Guild will host Dec. 3 discussion of technique and its impact on actors.
SAG Approves AMPTP Contract by a Landslide
Deal includes wage, increases in pension and health contributions, and residuals for new-media.
Slideshow
The Hotel Bel-Air has undergone a lot of changes over the years, but it's in for its biggest face-lift via a two-year renovation. Here is a collection of then and now photos.
SAG’s sister union AFTRA, which ratified its own TV/theatrical contract with the AMPTP last July, snapped up jurisdiction for 66 out of roughly 70 TV new pilots.
Membership First, the faction opposed to ratification, produced its own series of videos criticizing the new contract. Martin Sheen, Ed Harris and Elliott Gould argued that the contract doesn’t include residual for low-budget new-media work, lacks rules governing product placement and doesn’t address the issue of force majeure.
Hollywood’s largest union has been riven by internal opposing factions since its commercials strike in 2000. The war over the current TV/theatrical pact began in the fall of 2007 when SAG’s national board then led by Membership First voted to institute bloc voting, which would have given SAG more bargaining power in their joint negotiations with AFTRA.
AFTRA responded by splitting from SAG and negotiating its own contract with the AMPTP. The provisions of that contract mirrored those included in contracts signed by the Writers Guild and Directors Guild.
Negotiations for SAG’s contract began in April 2008 and ended without a new deal when the contract expired on June 31. After months of speculation over whether SAG would call for strike authorization, SAG members voted a majority of Unite for Strength candidates onto the national board. The board fired then-SAG executive director Doug Allen in January and vowed to obtain a TV/Theatrical contract.
The members’ rejection of the contract will greatly affect the guild’s elections in September. Rosenberg has not announced whether he will seek a third term as president. UFS members have not announced any presidential candidates that would oppose his reelection.
“This will certainly give the moderates an edge during the elections,” entertainment attorney and blogger Jonathan Handel said. “Neither side has announced their candidates. Although James Cromwell has been mentioned as the moderate’s possible candidate for president.”
Nominating petitions will become available Monday. Candidates will be interviewed by the national nominating committee June 20-21.
Longtime Membership First board member Anthony DeSantis said that no matter how SAG members vote, the guild must focus on working together and holding its leaders accountable.
"Some people may be tempted to believe this contract was the battle. But the real enemy standing between us and fair wages is not UFS or Membership First, it's the AMPTP," DeSantis said.
"We have to find a way to build consensus. Until we do we can play this game over and over again. I need to see the reaching out to the other unions. In about a year and a half, we're going to be back at the table. This isn't the end of the battle, it's the beginning."
Comments
michael Says
No doubt we will all be gainfully employed now that SAG has finally ceded many of its previously hard won gains to corporate Hollywood. After all, it was the AMPTP and their multimillionaire movie stars which so often invoked, "Let's all get back to work" as an inducement. Surely their word is their bond and the coffers of everyone who held SAG ( not AMPTP) responsible for the lack of work will be replenished in the days forthwith. The floodgates will open. We will return to the sets of the numerous movies and television shows that have been held in abeyance solely at SAG's (not AMPTP"s) lengthy reach. What will I do with the prosperity unleashed by all this activity now that SAG is no longer the obstacle? Writers? Start writing. Crews? Gather your tools. IATSE? Fuel the vehicles. Directors? Call your teams. Make up, hair, set construction, art directors, sound, editors, wardrobe, catering - SAG has capitulated and our cups will surely runneth over. No more hardship. No more struggle. No more economic insecurity. SAG has surrendered. Let's all get back to work.
Todd Waring Says
There are unfinished contract negotiations that need to be completed. There are elections coming in the fall. There are bridges to mend. There's merger to discuss.
And all of it should be aimed at gaining more advantage at the bargaining table.
That is where the waning political faction lost its bearings. Membership First veered off in the direction of consolidating power in the boardroom at the expense of our clout in front of the buyers.
Nothing highlights that fact more potently than M.F. having assailed AFTRA in the run-up to the Phase One negotiations by first trying to institute 'bloc' voting (which would in effect switch all of SAG's board votes to agree with those of the SAG majority) and then by trying to institute 'proportional' voting based on which union makes more money. (Insulting! If that's your criterion, why not base it on which board member makes more money???)
Nevertheless, all this was designed to disenfranchise our sister union. And all under the rubric of doing what's best for the membership or saving SAG or whatever sounded good. But this is how you piss away your clout. By not swallowing your differences for the greater good of all the members.
That's the lesson of the last year or so.
lb Says
I echo Mr. Tipple's remarks. I congratulate those @ sag that had the courage in the face of all the negative characterizations to vote yes for this contract. For those who voted no, at least you voted. The evil you perceive is not from without, it is from within. Your arrogance and self-centered view of our industry got cut down to size...learn from it or don't, we don't care for you.
Do you guys get any lesson from the fact that there are 110,000 members and only 35% or so voted? You're not a functioning union...you're a self-admiration society. You're in total denial and contribute no good to the world at large.
Paul Tipple Says
At last sanity from the SAG union, whose earlier disastrous leadership (the Allens) & the pathetic Membership First faction, brought the industry almost to a standstill. They do not seem to realise the damage they have brought not just upon themselves but to all the other trades who work in the industry to make actors look good. And it’s not just a USA disaster. Manufacturers at home and abroad too have been badly damaged. Power Gems in the UK has suffered badly from the lack of its USA business. Historically movies do well in recession, but SAG piled on the agony in this most severe of recessions and for what? The losses & costs incurred by them in the last year will never be recovered. The deal accepted was virtually the one on the table last fall. Utter , utter madness!
Thank you to those actors who realised all along that they do have a duty to perform.
Paul Tipple, President & Managing Director of Power Gems Corp.
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