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I’m told that the ousted National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator for SAG will have his contract paid off:
Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2009 15:34:05 -0800
To: SAG National Board of Directors and Alternate National Directors
Subject: Message from Doug Allen
I have been informed by SAG counsel that the National Board has terminated my employment as National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator of Screen Actors Guild. I am disappointed in the board’s decision, which was made by written assent, and I am proud of my record as SAG’s NED and Chief Negotiator.
I wish Screen Actors Guild and its members success and I have been honored to serve them. I have particularly enjoyed leading the wonderful men and women on the SAG staff and serving with SAG’s National President Alan Rosenberg and National Secretary-Treasurer Connie Stevens.
I have made some wonderful friendships with many SAG elected leaders, members and staff and will cherish those friendships forever.
My best wishes to you all,
Doug Allen
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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And I get no say whatsoever…WTF?! Fuck Unite for Strength. Send out the crappy contract for me to reject it already.
This is a sad day for the Screen Actors Guild. The annoucer from New York and the Mid-West have now taken over the Guild.
For all of you people out there, this was coup d’état by a group of SAG Board members from New York and the Mid-West who are not screen actors at all. They are a aggressive group of AFTRA announcer who really don’t care about the contract negotiations with the AMPTP, though they have SAG cards. They in fact don’t even work the contract under negotiation. What they care about is taking over control of SAG weakening SAG and merging with AFTRA.
This group will not sign their names because to do so would reveal to the plublic the fact that they are also AFTRA board members and most have never work on a telvision show or movie in their lives.
They will be running SAG and you can thank the UFS slate. Whose members will go down in history as the turncoat Benedict Arnolds that sold out actors and the formerly great Screen Actors Guild.
This goes WAY beyond firing Doug. They put in David White as NED, that scummy lawyer who worked under Bob Pisano, and the man who’s such a relic he thinks downloading is putting your laundry in the bottom dryer at the laundramat, John McGuire as Chief Negotiator (who said he wouldn’t take the job, but now has). Watch them fire half the senior staff and move quickly to try to merge the two unions under AFTRA’s producer-friendly way of doing business.
Only SIX Hollywood Board members signed that letter firing Doug. NY and the Branches did this with just enough help from UFS… The National Board Members from the Hollywood Division who just signed your future away are –
Adam Arkin
Amy Brenneman
Morgan Fairchild
Pamela Reed
Kate Walsh
Ken Howard
Make sure to thank them when you see them on set.
And Alan Rosenberg… Ignore that section of their letter that says you can’t speak for SAG anymore… it’s unconstitutional.
Of course, one of the first things that Membership First did when they took power was (guess)
fire the NED!
Bringing in your own people is standard–and not just in SAG
Are you guys sure this is still a professional Guild? It doesn’t seem like it’s representative of its members nor does it seem like it has anyone even remotely professional helming it. Maybe the studios should only carry AFTRA projects after this point.
Allen’s firing and the dissolution of a valiant negotiating committee can be traced to one event.
Sometime in 2008, television star Amy Brenneman decided to run as the leading name on the electoral slate of Unite-for-Strength. (www.USActorsOnScreen.com)
Brenneman won a plurality of the votes of Hollywood Branch members in September, 2008. Her presence on the slate helped other Unite for Strength candidates win enough votes to secure a majority of so-called “moderates” on our National Board.
The die was cast.
If you have to live with an inferior, insulting, degrading contract for the next three years, and many more, you can thank One Lucky Star.
Did YOU vote for her? There will be another election come September.
Tyrany,
The statement says the following:
“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”
It’s very clear. Any board member who ran on the UFS slate backed this action, as well as a few who were unaffiliated. The only people who weren’t part of it were Hollywood board Membership First members and one Membership First member in New York. If they all hadn’t backed it, it wouldn’t have constituted a 53% majority and wouldn’t have had any effect. The written assent was a vote, legal under the constitution of SAG. A majority is a majority. Welcome to representative democracy. The board was elected by the membership. It’s like the U.S. Congress, ever heard of them?
This is the same vote that would have happened live, in the boardroom (at a wasted expense of over $100,000 to members for travel expenses) if those who had traveled so far hadn’t been filibustered by the minority and not permitted to vote on this motion, guided by the chair. That’s actually NOT democracy.
Your union was just busted by bitter egomaniacs from NY and the branches who manipulated incoming, inexperienced board members as well as obstructed the leadership and negotiating committee at every turn. They perpetrated from within precisely the same game on SAG that Roberta Reardon did when she promised joint negotiations, then reneged.
Now you will see what it means to truly have weak leadership. And, too late, the membership is about to understand what they did when they voted for members of UFS.
I continue to be amused at how some members can talk about the “sucky deal.” It may not be the best thing out there, but it was struck over (remember the WGA?), and signed by the WGA, by the DGA, by IATSE, etc. Six unions I think have signed it.
At this point, for good or for bad, the only thing to get this town back on track is to sign the damned thing already.
This whole thing has been one long filibuster … let the town get back to work already.
Dave Clennon speaks the truth.
Doug Allen was the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The first thing that Membership First did when they took power was to fire the NED – but UFS/NY/RBD gave Doug 4 long months to acknowledge that he no longer represented Membership First. He never did.
Representative Democracy at SAG? You’re kidding, right? The ‘majority’ of National Board Members either haven’t worked in years, or represent areas of the country that do as much business as the actors living in the 12 and 1300 block of Sweetzer. The system is not set up to let the majority rule.
blame fat cats.
This “blame AFTRA” stance is beyond ridiculous. The AMPTP represents people who are in this business for the express purpose of making a profit. That’s their job.
The actor’s job is to decide for themselves whether they are willing to work FOR these employers on the terms the employers provide. Just like any other job out there. If you don’t like the terms, no one is stopping you from getting another job.
Not trying to be exceptionally cynical, just trying to make a point. AFTRA has shown concern for the immediate needs of their membership by insuring the jobs stay here. If the actors don’t want to work under the contract the will keep the work here, that’s their choice. But don’t blame the union for trying to keep the work here. That’s their job.
For those who are saying the “dissenters” are AFTRA members who don’t care about SAG, vote for the merger, but on the condition that members register in one category (or are assigned to a category based on where the majority of their income is earned) and then vote in that category for representation and contracts. That should eliminate the concern about newscasters voting on actors’ issues.
Prepare now.
Study very carefully the contract which was left on the table by the AMPTP.
Observe, very carefully, whatever changes to that contract are made in the next round of negotiations, between the AMPTP and the new U4S/USAN “Task Force,” led by Mr. Allen’s replacement.
Think. Inform yourself and your friends. Debate. In a short time, maybe six weeks, we will be asked to decide the fate of our union. We will be asked to decide our future as professional actors.
Will the next chief negotiator and the U4S/USAN Task Force win a contract that we can live with? Will they win a contract that will guarantee a decent standard of living for the next generation of actors?
If so, I will vote to ratify that contract.
If not — if the contract the U4S/USAN negotiating team sends to us is not significantly better than the contract now on the table, I will fight against its ratification with all the energy I and my family can muster.
Be prepared. Be ready to fight for your life as an actor. Be ready to fight for what you deserve and fight for your very dignity as a human being.
You guys probably shouldn’t be using the word Democracy in this instance. Democracy as it is practiced in America is a political system designed to protect the minority. Majority Rules is not the proper result of Democratic activity. If it was, there would be a whole lot of disenfranchised individuals here who never get a chance.
We do have a lot of other names for what just happened at SAG. You should probably review them in your mind, silently. Then you should remember why SAG hires professional negotiators, not merely lawyers. But, what the hell, perhaps now you’re going to find out how it is “really” done in New York City. And maybe you will be able to understand what a “Union” is.
Dave Clennon…put your sword away. You sound like you are preparing to do everything you can to sabotage any deal that is presented by anyone other than your cohorts. Using your words, doesn’t that make you a “termite”?. You talk like Rush Limbaugh, full of threats and almost praying that these folks will fail…all so you can feel that you know better. These threatening tactics you have employed have FAILED, Dave. No matter what way this situation went as this point, we were all going to lose. There are no winners or losers here. We are all losers for the moment. We aren’t likely to get the retroactive pay. We aren’t likely to get anything but a deal that’s on par with what everyone else got. What we DO have is a chance to regroup, re-think, heal and start again in a more level headed manner. You had your chance and all you did was bludgeon people. It didn’t inspire people. It only divided us. Now back the f*** off with the saber rattling if you REALLY love your union. It has gotten us nowhere and will continue to get us nowhere, especially under the current circumstances.
Heavy the head that wears the crown.
Unless there is some back-room trade-off, whereby UFS has a standing agreement they’ll get something very substantial if they pulled this off, perhaps agreed to by the AMPTP because the long term on a UFS led union looks much easier and less costly for the producers, my guess is UFS will emerge with lipstick on a pig. Why would they give the union more simply because some different faces are asking for more? Why? That’s two weeks, right there. Then, UFS sends out the contract. That’s a month. Then, without substantial improvement, the membership is liable to express their displeasure with the coup and the inability to change the deal to any relevant extent, by voting it down. UFS will then have no choice but to send out an SAV. That’s another month. I’ll stop there.
Meanwhile, we would have known the result of an SAV four days ago, if the national board had allowed it’s own motion to stand. We could be several weeks into voting on essentially the same contract UFS will probably be sending out. Doug Allen would have gone back too and said give us what you can or the membership will vote this down.
By my count, that’s two and a half months of time wasted.
So, someone explain to me, except for political partisan warfare and short term jubilation of one smallish group of people – how is this good for the Screen Actors guild?
The only RBD board member who didn’t sign the written assent represents members in the San Diego Branch. The only New York board member who didn’t sign the written assent stars on the crime show on USA Network. If you’d like to know what board members did sign the written assent, just go to SAG.org, click on board members look at all of the national board members not affiliated with membershipfirst and you’ll have your names. 6 national board members who represent the Hollywood Division signed the written assent. The written assent represented 52.52% of the national board. I would also recommend that, if you are interested, IMDB those board members who signed the written assent. Especially those from the RBD and New York. Now, I’m not an advocate for qualified voting, but I’m certainly an advocate for qualified board service. I don’t believe people who don’t work the contract should have anything to say about setting contract or union policy at a board level.
Well, now I guess UFS/NY/RBD/McGuire will deliver a contract that the membership will ratify. Especially with McGuire at the helm. He’s so dynamic and the AMPTP really shake in their boots when he enters the room. Oh, that’s right, that’s why Allen was fired. He actually did challenge the AMPTP, engage the membership, followed the will of the national board, and didn’t back down when the AMPTP told us to take it or leave it.
The last 41 posts have been brought to you by the real reason that SAG has no unity – the members of SAG. rE
The last 44 posts have been brought to you by the real reason that SAG has no unity: SAG Members – Rebels without a clue.
The hero of SAG, President Barack Obama has asked ALL Americans to give something back and help in this recovery … You actors are not immune to this … GROW A PAIR AND HELP OUT INSTEAD OF BEING THE SELFISH PRICKS YOU HAVE SHOWN YOURSELVES TO BE …
When the WGA had it’s back to the wall and it went to a strike vote, the writers knew that there was strength in unity, so we voted overwhelmingly to walk. Even though we didn’t want to strike, we knew there was strength in unity and to let the AMPTP have it’s way now was to let them own us forever. We got a shitty deal, but at least we made a stand. Leave it to the narcissistic, self absorbed and generally retarded actors to splinter. Way to go guys, you really showed ‘em!! Next time I see an exec at the Grand Havana Room grinning from ear to ear, sucking on a Cohiba and toasting to Tom Hanks and the rest of the traitors, I’ll raise a jaded glass as well. Well done, you idiots.
Because I see comments about the RBD and all those who don’t work the contract in negotiation at this time, I’ll bring up my argument again from two months ago.
Instead of merging SAG and AFTRA, we would better serve the members of each by having ACTORS in SAG and anyone who does not act in films, videos, or on TV in AFTRA. I hope that the definition of an actor is not so muddied that there would be a problem in distinguishing one type from the other. For the few who may fall into both unions, they could be barred from holding board positions, and allowed only to vote as a member just like all the brethern.
First, you really have to be without a clue to think SAG is offered the same deal as the DGA and WGA. The same how? Members of the different UNIONS perform entirely different functions so the parameters of a contract are obviously different.
Simply because the AMPTP put out the idea in a press release that all contracts are the same doesn’t mean you have to believe what you know can’t be true.
Second, why won’t these people who fired Allen sign any press releases, ever. Who are they? I sense it’s Kate Walsh, Ned Vaughn, Amy Breneman and the like.
SAG membership would be well served to understand these people rallied hard to take your vote if you made less than $100K a year, and have now found a different way to get what they want. They want your Vote and they have effectively taken it from you by extinguishing the strike vote and now extinguishing the contract vote.
But when it comes time to vote on your contract, and that time will come, vote no. Because they care nothing about the membership. They just want to make sure there is no hiccup in their way above scale paychecks. And because they are in bed with the AMPTP they don’t care if you want to continue to feed your family and qualify for health insurance. They have and will continue to sell you and your children out for their own advancement.