Screen Actor's Guild

Subject: Screen Actor's Guild Wed Jun 25, 2008 5:48 am

Actors Brolin, Mortensen back Screen Actors Guild

The Associated Press
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

LOS ANGELES: Jack Nicholson, Viggo Mortensen, Nick Nolte and other actors will come out in support of the Screen Actors Guild's negotiating team and call for a smaller union to return to the bargaining table in a new ad to run Thursday, said a person familiar with the situation.

The ad, to run in trade publications Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, contains the names of more than 60 actors including Josh Brolin, and Rosanna and Patricia Arquette, said the person, who was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity.
The high-powered endorsement of the union's tactics comes just days after Tom Hanks added his name to a petition calling on actors to endorse a deal reached by the smaller American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

The battle of lists put a smaller group of guild-supporting stars like Martin Sheen and Holly Hunter against the AFTRA backers who signed onto an online petition at http://www.AFTRAYes.com led by Hanks, Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey, and some 600 other lesser-known actors.

The three-year contracts of both unions, covering prime-time TV and movie productions, expire Monday.

AFTRA, which reached a deal with the major Hollywood studios May 28, sent out ballots to members last week to ratify the pact. The results are to be announced July 8. SAG has waged an all-out campaign to oppose the deal, saying the precedent would handcuff its negotiations. It has not yet called for a strike authorization vote.
"In the current issues that we are dealing with, I would say that AFTRA is one of the main stumbling blocks," Mortensen said in an endorsement posted Tuesday on the SAG Web site. "They are not working for actors and SAG is."

The ad says the guild is not finished with its negotiations and calls for higher minimum wages, residual payments for all Internet content, jurisdiction over all productions targeted only at the Web, and an increase in payments for appearances in DVDs.
"We believe AFTRA should go back to the bargaining table, with SAG, and fight for a better contract," it says.

The delay in reaching a contract with SAG, Hollywood's biggest actors union that represents 120,000 members, has thrown a kink in movie production schedules.

Some movie projects have experienced delays in getting approved for shooting, while others have scheduled breaks between shoots in case there is a labor disruption.

AFTRA, with 70,000 members in a handful of prime-time TV shows, issued a statement late Tuesday criticizing the guild for "spending its members' dues in a misguided effort to attack another union and undermine a solid contract."

Some 44,000 actors hold memberships in both unions.

Jonathan Handel, a former Writers Guild of America associate counsel, said SAG's effort to bring AFTRA back to the bargaining table was unrealistic because of the bad blood between the two feuding unions.

The result could be a delay of talks well past the June 30 expiration of the current contract, he said.

"I think we're in this gray sort of Netherworld where we neither have a strike nor a contract for some period of time," Handel said. "There always will be a deal eventually, the question is when."

Subject: Re: Screen Actor's Guild Wed Jun 25, 2008 7:10 am

From www.hollywoodreporter.com

A-listers fire back for SAG

Jack Nicholson among actors against AFTRA pact

By Leslie Simmons and Andrew Salomon

June 24, 2008, 10:24 PM ET

Screen Actor's Guild 30932-Nicholson_jack_341x182

Jack Nicholson (Getty Images photo)

The battle of dueling A-listers heated up Tuesday as SAG enlisted 67 actors -- including Jack Nicholson, Ben Stiller and Martin Sheen -- to back its campaign against the ratification of AFTRA's tentative pact with the studios and networks.

The move comes just days after Tom Hanks, Kevin Spacey and more than 100 other guild members went on record in support of AFTRA's contract and urged a "yes" vote on its ratification.

For SAG, which completed its 37th negotiating session with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers on Tuesday, the AFTRA ratification vote is crucial. The guild will have little leverage at the bargaining table if AFTRA's pact is approved; if it's voted down, the membership will have sent a strong signal that it is committed to achieving more.

The issues splitting the unions, as well as factions of SAG, are wages, pension and health contributions; residuals for all new media; no non-union media productions; protections from product integration; an increase in DVD residuals; and preserving force majeure protections. Those opposing ratification of AFTRA's pact say the gains in its tentative deal are not enough.

Meanwhile, SAG's national executive committee has voted to seek an extension to the union's TV/theatrical contract, which expires Monday. The move is not surprising, as the guild's chief negotiator Doug Allen has said he expects talks to continue past the deadline.

AFTRA brokered its tentative deal with the AMPTP on May 28. Members are now voting on whether to ratify the contract, with results expected July 8. A simple majority is needed for approval.

AFTRA has about 70,000 members overall, which makes the math for SAG extremely difficult, at least in theory. It would need to convince more than 35,000 of the 44,000 dual cardholders -- almost 80% -- to vote against the deal, assuming the other 26,000 or so would vote to approve it.

Then again, member response to referenda and elections has been historically low, often less than 30%, so nothing is certain. And it is because of that low voter turnout that both unions have been waging their campaigns for or against the AFTRA contract.

The executive committee, which was bitterly divided over the anti-AFTRA campaign, was nearly unanimous in backing the extension request. Tension arose later in the meeting, however, when members of the New York and other regional factions, who have endorsed the AFTRA contract, demanded to know what the plan for SAG would be if AFTRA members ratified the contract.

"It's absolutely dead certain that AFTRA will not go back to the table with SAG under any circumstances," said a source with knowledge of the meeting. "For Doug Allen to be making statements to the contrary is absolutely intentionally misleading the membership."

A spokesman for the AMPTP said Tuesday that the group had received no request for an extension.

SAG also has posted several videos from high-profile members on its Web site. Sheen and Ed Harris deliver 30-second video statements that say they "support the negotiating team."

Viggo Mortensen taped a longer video explaining his unhappiness with AFTRA.

"In the current issues we are dealing with, I would say that AFTRA is one of the main stumbling blocks," a somber Mortensen says. "I'm sorry to say that."

Mortensen adds that he's considering withdrawing from AFTRA temporarily and tells viewers, "If you don't take part, you will get screwed. And I don't intend to get screwed."

In response to the trade ads, an AFTRA spokeswoman said "thousands" of AFTRA members, as well as SAG board members in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and the labor community, support the union's contract.

"Yet, SAG's Hollywood leadership continues down its dysfunctional path, spending its members' dues in a misguided effort to attack another union and undermine a solid contract," the spokeswoman said. "For our part, we remain focused on educating AFTRA members about the facts and the merits of their new agreement so they can make an informed decision. We are confident that they will see through this latest politically motivated effort and ultimately ratify the AFTRA contract and help keep our industry working."

AFTRA was the first to enlist top actors to back its cause, sending out phone messages to its members from actors including Sally Field and James Cromwell last week. SAG followed with a "robo" phone calls by "Grey's Anatomy" star Sandra Oh, urging AFTRA members to vote no.

Andrew Salomon is news editor at Back Stage East.

Subject: Re: Screen Actor's Guild Thu Jun 26, 2008 6:59 am

From the Associated Press

Actors Brolin, Mortensen back Screen Actors Guild

By RYAN NAKASHIMA – 17 hours ago

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jack Nicholson, Viggo Mortensen, Nick Nolte and other actors will come out in support of the Screen Actors Guild's negotiating team and call for a smaller union to return to the bargaining table in a new ad to run Thursday, said a person familiar with the situation.

The ad, to run in trade publications Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, contains the names of more than 60 actors including Josh Brolin, and Rosanna and Patricia Arquette, said the person, who was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity.
The high-powered endorsement of the union's tactics comes just days after Tom Hanks added his name to a petition calling on actors to endorse a deal reached by the smaller American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

The battle of lists put a smaller group of guild-supporting stars like Martin Sheen and Holly Hunter against the AFTRA backers who signed onto an online petition at http://www.AFTRAYes.com led by Hanks, Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey, and some 600 other lesser-known actors.

The three-year contracts of both unions, covering prime-time TV and movie productions, expire Monday.

AFTRA, which reached a deal with the major Hollywood studios May 28, sent out ballots to members last week to ratify the pact. The results are to be announced July 8. SAG has waged an all-out campaign to oppose the deal, saying the precedent would handcuff its negotiations. It has not yet called for a strike authorization vote.
"In the current issues that we are dealing with, I would say that AFTRA is one of the main stumbling blocks," Mortensen said in an endorsement posted Tuesday on the SAG Web site. "They are not working for actors and SAG is."

The ad says the guild is not finished with its negotiations and calls for higher minimum wages, residual payments for all Internet content, jurisdiction over all productions targeted only at the Web, and an increase in payments for appearances in DVDs.

"We believe AFTRA should go back to the bargaining table, with SAG, and fight for a better contract," it says.

The delay in reaching a contract with SAG, Hollywood's biggest actors union that represents 120,000 members, has thrown a kink in movie production schedules.

Some movie projects have experienced delays in getting approved for shooting, while others have scheduled breaks between shoots in case there is a labor disruption.

AFTRA, with 70,000 members in a handful of prime-time TV shows, issued a statement late Tuesday criticizing the guild for "spending its members' dues in a misguided effort to attack another union and undermine a solid contract."

Some 44,000 actors hold memberships in both unions.
Jonathan Handel, a former Writers Guild of America associate counsel, said SAG's effort to bring AFTRA back to the bargaining table was unrealistic because of the bad blood between the two feuding unions.

The result could be a delay of talks well past the June 30 expiration of the current contract, he said.

"I think we're in this gray sort of Netherworld where we neither have a strike nor a contract for some period of time," Handel said. "There always will be a deal eventually, the question is when."

Subject: Re: Screen Actor's Guild Thu Jul 17, 2008 4:31 pm

From The Hollywood Reporter:
No apparent progress at SAG sidebar meeting

Studios, actors union remain at a stalemate

By Leslie Simmons and Lauren Horwitch
July 16, 2008, 08:43 PM ET
Updated: July 16, 2008, 10:25 PM ET

Wednesday's sidebar meeting between SAG and the studios provided more of what industry watchers have become accustomed to: talk and no apparent progress.

After meeting for more than two hours at AMPTP headquarters in Sherman Oaks, the two sides said in a statement that the discussion would be kept private and that no further meetings were scheduled.

The off-the-record "sidebar meeting" between small teams from each side was the second time the two SAG and studio reps have met face-to-face since bargaining broke off June 30, the day SAG's contract expired.

Meanwhile, a political war within SAG has been brewing beneath the surface.

MembershipFirst, the faction of actors that holds the majority of seats on SAG's Hollywood and national boards, has been a key supporter of SAG president Alan Rosenberg and national executive director Doug Allen throughout this rocky past year. The faction -- which includes board members Justine Bateman, Frances Fisher and JoBeth Williams -- led the guild's "Vote No" campaign against AFTRA's recently ratified primetime contract and has stood by the current administration.

However, notable New York board members -- including SAG 2nd vp Sam Freed, former New York board president Paul Christie and former SAG president Richard Masur -- have been just as outspoken in opposing many of the leadership's moves. The New Yorkers are more sympathetic to AFTRA's positions on basic cable and bloc voting, and they have advocated a less aggressive approach in the negotiations with the AMPTP.

The two sides could clash soon, with about one-third of the 69 seats on SAG's boards nationwide up for election in September. The Hollywood board will elect 11 national board members and 22 alternates; the New York board will elect five national board members and nine alternates. Hollywood and New York branch ballots will be mailed Aug. 19 and are due Sept. 18.

Board elections may not seem like a high priority as the contentious contract talks come to a crucial pass, but the steps SAG leaders take in the next few days vis-a-vis the AMPTP's "last, best and final offer" could affect who will control the guild's boards. SAG and the AMPTP have agreed to continue working under the terms of the expired contract for the time being, but many major studio features have shut down production.

But the AMPTP has increased the pressure, saying it will provide wage increases retroactively only if SAG accepts the deal by Aug. 15. The producers said actors could lose more than $200,000 a day in increases if the final offer is not ratified by that deadline. The AMPTP also requested that guild members vote on the final offer by the end of July.

The stagnant state of negotiations could figure in the elections in several ways.

If Rosenberg and Allen are forced to accept the AMPTP's final offer, SAG members might blame them for taking a lesser deal and consequently oust MembershipFirsters from the boards. However, guild voters also could blame the administration for perpetuating a de facto strike if the negotiations are still going on in September. Members also might be bitter about the MembershipFirst-dominated national board's decision to spend thousands of dollars in guild funds on an unsuccessful campaign against AFTRA's contract.

Stephen Diamond, an associate professor at the Santa Clara University School of Law and a former candidate for SAG national executive director, said SAG leaders certainly have the upcoming elections on their minds.

"I think the elections are probably playing a significant role now in shaping the tactical approach of the guild leadership," he said. "The problem with that, of course, is it suggests to the producers that the leadership is more interested in preserving power than in good-faith bargaining."

Greg Hessinger, who has held top positions at both SAG and AFTRA and currently is labor and employment partner at the law firm Reed Smith, agreed. "MembershipFirst has been openly critical of the deal at the table, so the hard-liners will seize upon any agreement as a sellout," he said. "On the other hand, delay will only serve to solidify the de facto strike and give moderates ample ammunition to criticize the bargaining strategy. If the de facto strike continues much longer, the SAG leadership will face pressure to submit the final offer to the membership for a vote with or without recommendation."

Also complicating matters is the possibility that some of SAG's celebrity members recently who involved themselves in union politics could form a new party and run for the available board seats.

Viggo Mortensen, Ed Harris, Ben Stiller, Sean Penn and Jack Nicholson expressed their support for SAG during the "Vote No" campaign. On the other side of the issue were Tom Hanks, Sally Field, Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin and Kevin Spacey. George Clooney remained neutral, but he released a letter urging the unions to work together and suggesting that higher-paid actors pay a greater share of dues.

But Hessinger noted that the stars would be more electable if they did not take sides.

"If there were a slate of stars that were independent of MembershipFirst and maybe even independent of any faction, that could definitely change the landscape," he said. "Those individuals could immediately command the swing vote on the board and effectively control the board."

Lauren Horwitch is news editor for Back Stage West