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Back on February 12th, I broke the story A-List Actors Pressure SAG To Start Talks about how a carefully orchestrated campaign by powerful actors George Clooney, Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro and others was getting underway in the trades and mainstream press to pressure SAG president Alan Rosenberg and national executive director Doug Allen to start negotiations early. Now a SAG board member directs me to this open letter from actor and rank-and-filer David Clennon attacking those A-Listers for “insulting” their union leadership when ”loyalty and solidarity and courage” are needed:
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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to Jimmy’s comment,
First of all, I signed the list for the board and leaders to look at and CONSIDER “affected” voting. NOT qualified voting. None of the a listers who are mentioned in the ad (four to be exact) in question, in this post have signed this. So Jimmy you are confusing the issues. And by the way, when James Cagney was President of our union we had affected voting. This is nothing new.
These are two separate issues.
SAG has to go through it’s process of wages and committee meetings that it has done for many decades.
It rubbed some of us actors the wrong way that these stars could have realized this with a phone call and sent their message privately. As one poster said, I know they could have gotten Alan on the phone. I agree.
On the other hand, Clooney gave 25,000 and probably more to the Actors Fund and I know those who have used some of this. Where are other major stars donations??? I have a hard time being mad at him because of this generosity.
It looks like we have dissent in our ranks before we begin to negotiate, with what we have seen is hardly an honorable bunch after how they conducted themselves with the writers.
I think the fact that some people in town think we should have begun negotiating after the DGA is what motivated the ad by these stars. This is simply a failure of the current board and leaders to reach out to the a list stars and leads of shows and let them know our process and where we are and what they are doing. SAG had been slow to tell high profile members
what is expected before the WGA strike. But I don’t think this excuses the ill advised ad these stars did.
Our leaders may not be those I have voted for, but they are our leaders during a very important negotiation.
The stars should be telling them what they expect and rank and file members should be attending the meetings but we HAVE to have solidarity going into this.
I will not follow them blindly into a ill timed strike, I have yelled loudly at their insanely stupid timing on going to war with AFTRA, but I will not undercut their ability to fight for the middle class and working actor to make a living with dvd’s, residuals, and have health insurance.
Let’s fight this internally. GO TO MEETINGS. See what we are up against. Make your voice heard while you can. Stop armchair quarterbacking.
Huge stars who produce can afford a strike and to lose new media, the majority of us cannot. This blog is not where this should be being discussed, it should be an internal SAG issue.
In response to Tom Ligon’s post: Terrence Beasor did not send Dave Clennon’s post to DeadlineHollywood, I did.
Streaming here:
Nobody in this industry wants a strike; get that straight. But a Union’s only leverage is to carry a big stick into a negotiation, and that is called a Strike Authorization.
The AMPTP forced the Studio Lock-out by walking away from the WGA table.
DGA went in early (contract does not expire until June 30, 2008) and by looking at the deal-points, (since SAG has not been given the whole contract to work with, yet Aftra has), it looks like a pittance. WGA improved in some places on that hasty back-channel deal, and it now is in SAG’s court to improve upon that deal.
With regard to Ligon’s comment that SAG leadership has been “trying to invent a stupid war with Aftra”:
I ask those of you reading this post to consider the following facts:
1. Aftra has violated 99-CVR-17-R, an agreement between SAG and Aftra that madates sharing of contract information and that neither Union will undercut each other. Period.
2. Aftra has invaded traditional SAG jurisdiction in the recent years, making individual deals in Basic-Cable, offering cut-rate deals for actors that give away 10-15+ 24-hour days of free reruns, which means actors get no residuals, thus no Health & Retirement. Think about it: Actors get no residuals for a year. Not only are these SAG members working under an inferior Aftra contract, their pension accrual rate is less; Aftra is 1.7% and SAG is 3.5%.
3. Aftra made a deal for 6 years with Nickeodeon giving away free internet streaming.
4. In 2005, during co-SAG/Aftra Interactive (video games) negotiations, SAG was in the process of negotiating residuals; Aftra folded and settled for a deal with no residuals in the fastest growing business in our industry, “revenue was up 43% in 2007 to $18 Billion dollars” Variety 1/17/08. No residuals for actors.
5. According to Phase 1, another agreement between SAG and Aftra, the NegComm is seated 50-50, even though Aftra earns less than 10% of the TV/Theatrical contract, and does no movies.
6. The TV/Theatrical contract is ratified by both unions; every member who is in good standing may vote.
7. With respect to the internet petition circulating by SAG members, calling on SAG to qualify it’s membership on voting on this contract, (as they have been told that non-working actors vote) the question I have asked repeatedly and have yet to receive an answer is this:
Why is it that these SAG petitioners, (many of whom are dual card holders, many of whom are my friends), why are they not asking Aftra to be held to the same standard?
Broadcasters, weatherpeople, disk jockeys, game-show hosts, etc….are allowed to vote on the TV/Theatrical contract!
I believe that every member in good standing who is an actor, and who is seeking work (it is no fault of their own that they are not hired) be allowed to vote on a contract that affects them, whether they are as fortunate as the signers of the petition or not.
I am extremely concerned with the fact that people in both of our Unions who are NOT actors, vote on this contract. If actors want a strong contract, then we do not need people who are NOT actors voting in either Union. (Les Moonves-CBS comes to mind.)
8. Aftra has an open-door policy for membership – there are no requirements whatsoever to become a member of Aftra.
SAG membership requires employment in order to join.
SCREEN ACTORS GUILD, INC. Constitution and By-Laws April 2007
ARTICLE XI Collective Bargaining, Agreements & Ratification
Section 5. Every member of the Guild shall be bound by the provisions of all collective bargaining contracts in effect between the Guild and motion picture producers as the same are or may hereafter be amended.
Hi. I’m Dave Clennon.
I may be breaching website etiquette, butting into the comments line. But I want to add a paragraph I wrote after attending the Friday morning session of S.A.G./AFTRA’s Wages and Working Conditions committee. I was too late to get it published with the rest of my blasphemous polemic. I would like to include it here because now I understand better what we’re protecting when we refuse to be stampeded into negotiations.
The preceding paragraph ends thus . . .
. . . . . . . . . .. . . Please, stop interfering with, and second-guessing, our leaders and their preparations for what promises to be a long and grueling series of confrontations. They will begin to “just talk” when they believe they can best serve the interests of our membership.
And THEN I wrote . . . .
Preparations for negotiations include several meetings of the Wages and Working Conditions Committee (among others). Every member of the Guild is strongly encouraged to participate in these meetings. Every viewpoint, every demand, every possible solution is welcomed in a town-hall style format. This process is taking place right now. It could not have begun until the DGA and WGA settlements were formulated and published. Now, those settlements must be studied, analyzed and then compared to the needs and hopes of S.A.G. members. At the end of these deliberations, our negotiating proposals may differ significantly from the DGA/WGA “templates.” Your insistence [Clooney and crew] on beginning “just talks,” immediately, comes off like a plutocrat’s disregard for ordinary actors and for democratic labor union processes. I’m sure you didn’t intend it that way.
. . . . And we return to the published script.
I put the whole piece up on a little blog I call “Thank Your Lucky S.A.G. Stars,”
http://www.StarsAdviseTheirUnion.blogspot.com
You can leave comments there, too.
Some of the negative comments on DHDaily contain a few thoughtful opposing viewpoints. Overall, I would say the negatives didn’t read my scratchings carefully enough to give sensible replies.
Otherwise, it’s refreshing to see that royalism hasn’t been completely stamped out. We are rabble, but we’re not homogeneous rabble. We’re losers, but some of us still know how to love and honour our betters.
Persevere.
Dave C
Now the WGA was locked out by the AMPTP?
How does that work? Talk about “shills.”
Haven’t you above-the-liners reeked enough havoc on the below-the-liners? Come on guys, go to the table and make your deal. Another strike will do nothing but cause more job losses, more hardship for everyone, fuel more anger and resentment from the people who really make Hollywood work. Enough already! Let’s get’er done and move on.
No, Dan, it’s not a shill statement. The whole industry got locked out by the AMPTP… and the WGA too, if you consider that it is illegal for the AMPTP to walk away from the negotiations… you did hear of the term, LAW, didn’t you? And the only reason that they got away with it is because the government is in the hands of the same type of corporations that own the studios and want to break all workers down to the slaves they think they ought to be… and you are probably one who supports them.
David Clennon was out there on the picket lines… were you? Do you support anybody but yourself?
And you, BTL, ‘go to the table and make your deal’ … any deal made without teeth won’t be worth much… you may as well not even make a deal… just take whatever crumbs they throw at you each week. Or do you not understand, BTL, that without unions, in this business, you rarely get decent wages or health insurance? I do, because I’ve been there.
You’ve seen how strong the opposition is… that when the WGA had its most clout, it still folded… is that what you want to do, too? Because that’s what divisiveness gets you. That, and whiners, saying, make the deal now.
Regarding the stament about a studio “lockout”…
You can have a strike (by employees) or you can have a lockout (by management) – you cannot have both!!! (This is law, look it up)
It is just absurd to say the studio’s locked out the writers when they walked away from the table. Unless the writers crossed the picket line and attempted to return to work THEN THEY WERE STILL ON STRIKE! (as long as they are on strike – THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A LOCKOUT) Furthermore, in order to be locked out, those same writers attempting to return to work would have to be told by management they were not allowed to return in order to be lockedout!
Just because you call a strike and you dont like I how the negotions went doesnt mean you can blame the other side for the strike or the duration of the strike. What you are really saying is the writers called an il-advised strike and didnt have the leverage to keep the other side at the negotiating table.
In most instances of labor relations, strikes are called (or in most cases threatened) because labor has some leverage they can exploit to force a quick resolve by management. In this case, clearly the WGA lacked the leverage.
THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS AGAINST THY NEIGHBOR
And he hath indeed borne false witness against his neighbor Terrence Beasor.
So much for Ligon, Tom, comment #4.
His false witness is revealed in a statement by Frances Fisher, comment #27.
So much for Ligon, Tom’s credibility — as a reporter of facts and as a commentator.
Dave Clennon
The lovely actress, Frances Fisher, charter member of Hollywood SAG extremist group Membership First, trots out the tired, old anti-merger AFTRA-bashing mule once again. (Yawn) This kind of obsessive, divisive disinformation about our sister union (27 year contract negotiation partner with SAG) has caused working actors to cringe and shake our heads once again.
AFTRA contacts in scripted basic cable are based upon the SAG cable tv exhibition window Sopranos uses in pay tv plus SAG/AFTRA prime-time contracts and are wisely written in a system tiered to cable program budgets like SAG Indy Film contracts.
So what’s Membership First’s real beef? Salary compression (quite real,) top-of-show (genuine beef,) slim share of DVDs (legitimate beef,) splitting health & retirement contribs between two unions (understandable beef.) But SAG has shown an egregious inability to organize new work for us actors in basic cable, and post-merger-defeat AFTRA has been much more successful (50% share.)
In light of all the assorted beefs what does the current Hollywood SAG leadership & their Exec do? Attack their negotiating partner AFTRA, the sister union to which virtually all working actors also belong?!?
Might I suggest a visit to BA (Brawlers Anonymous) where they give you rubber dummies to bash rather than your union.
If SAG leadership can possibly get over their obsessive nit-picking and shouting perhaps we can conduct a successful AMPTP negotiation, or a successful strike if necessary. But keep up the bashing and blind intransigence, and you’ll drive AFTRA to the table by itself where your dreaded, “Disc Jockeys, news persons, jingle singers AND ACTORS” will cut a deal before SAG. And THAT is something SAG/AFTRA performers do not need.
And once all this has passed, it will be SAG Board election time in September — a perfect opportunity for actors to elect genuine union leaders and have done with Membership First screaming and blood-spattering forever.
menotyou -
Please see what I said earlier in this comments section about anonymous comments. At least I’m public with who I am.
I would add that past public record is just that – past. And an IMDB page does not reflect the totality of what a person is up to. FYI.
<<<>>>
to “A between the liner”
yes, i understand what a union is. i’ve been a active IA member, working full time in Features and TV for 32 fucking years. and i don’t need your condescending attitude. now, go make your deal and get it over with.
doc
Dear “ichbinaucheinwerkungactor”,
I encourage you to use your real name.
With regard to your acknowledgement that Aftra has been more “successful” in organizing new work on Basic-Cable, the only reason for that “success” is that they made deals that undercuts the standards of SAG. So much for a sister Union upholding 99-CVR-17-R. Aftra organized to the detriment of actors; something that SAG does not do. Screen Actors Guild works to maintain the standard, and to improve wages and working conditions. Of course the Companies would go for cut-rate contracts.
The unfortunate by-product of this action is that actors are not getting residuals for a season. I do not know how any actor could survive without residuals; I can’t.
When you compare television basic-cable to low-budget films, you are comparing apples and oranges:
Low budget films do not have built-in distribution/advertising, televi$ion doe$.
“Obsessive”? Perhaps. I care that actors be compensated for their work, and that they are not being sold out by the lowest bidder.
“Divisive disinformation?” Not! Everything I posted above is accurate. It is fact.
Have you read THE FOUR AGREEMENTS? Maybe it is time to do so….
To BTL: I am also a BTL member though not with IA and have seen IA give back on every contract. From 20% paycut on movie of the weeks, Vacation/Holiday pay to 3% paycuts on “First year” hour-long shows that get streached for up to 5 years. Last contract you guys stabbed a fellow IA member union in the back By screwing over the Camera Operators just because you didn’t want to strike.
I worked on one show where the laborers were making more then the prop makers all because the labor union told the producers to go to hell. Maybe IA should grow a pair.
As for the A-Lister who feel only those effected by the contract should get to vote. Except for the fact that if there is a strike they can’t work, or the P&H for after you blown all your money on drugs. Just how does the contract that is voted on really effect you?
Given that the “JUST TALK” advertorial didn’t play as well as its composers had hoped, I’m trying to think of a name for this whole little episode:
“A Four-Star Fuck-Up” ?
“The Four-Star Cluster-Fuck” ?
The prize for best title could be dinner with one of the four. Or all of them, if there’s a strike. Maybe their publicists would arrange that?
d cl